Blood Falls
by mayzee
Summary: My first collaborative fic. Co-write with Brooklyn79 & Consulting Patrick Jane. Jane has just returned from South America when he and Lisbon are sent undercover to investigate a serial killer who is murdering honeymooners in Niagara Falls. Reviews, as ever, are much appreciated. Now complete!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: So this is the first collaborative fic I've participated in. I'm excited and a little nervous as I'm so looking forward to writing this with my Twitter friends Brooklyn79 and Consulting Patrick Jane but it's the first time I haven't been totally in control of the story about to be told and for a control freak like myself it's more than a little strange and different. But I think it should be a fun ride with what we've lined up and hope you are kind in your reviews as we participate in this experiment. Btw I'll also be continuing with my other stories in case you think I'm ditching them.**

 **We're planning this to be a light hearted tale and to keep angst to a minimum (a challenge in itself for all of us certainly!) so please read with that in mind. A few people have asked me to write a romantic comedy for Jane & Lisbon so I think this is as far as I'm ever going to get. So expect more than likely a lot of silliness and some farce ahead and enjoy the ride without reading too much into it on any kind of deeper level and forgive any OOC moments that may occur. You may want to jump off the ride now if that doesn't appeal to you but hope you'll at least give it a try.**

 **We're taking a chapter each so as the basic outline of the plot is my idea (so feel free to blame me for it and not my co-authors) I'm up first. Thanks to Consulting Patrick Jane for the title.**

 **Disclaimer: We don't own The Mentalist or we would be getting paid for allowing our imaginations to run wild instead of doing it here for free...**

* * *

Blood Falls

Chapter 1 - Taking Off

Jane sipped his tea as Abbott gathered the team in the fishbowl of the FBI Office in Austin for a briefing on a new case. As Cho, Fischer and Wylie filed in Jane was on the lookout for Lisbon's appearance. She came in a few seconds later, sitting in the seat opposite him but one, barely glancing at him as she sat down and opened up a notepad, her concentration on Abbott at the head of the table.

He looked at the empty seat in front of him. _Hmm. Still keeping her distance._

It had been two weeks since he'd been released from the detention suite and they'd started working together again on cases but he'd barely seen her. Fischer seemed to be his new 'partner' now for offsite visits, more than likely to ensure he was kept on a tight rein as ordered by Abbott. She had yet to learn that was impossible but he found her naivety on the matter quite amusing. Lisbon was normally either kept at the office or sent off with Cho. If he was totally honest he was more than a little peeved that she appeared to find the situation acceptable. This wasn't what he'd come back to the U.S. for. He stared at her side profile, a part of him still in awe that he'd actually seen her again after two years apart, that she was right in front of him. But any hope he carried that they would move their relationship from platonic to romantic on his return was dwindling daily. If his disastrous "date" with Fischer on the island had taught him anything it was that he was more than a little out of practice in seducing someone. And Lisbon wasn't just "someone". He wanted a future with her, not a roll in the hay.

"Jane, thoughts?" Abbott barked, startling him out of his thoughts.

"Huh?" he replied, realising he hadn't listened to a word of the briefing.

Lisbon glared at him along with the rest of the team.

Abbott sighed. "The case, Jane. Serial killer targeting honeymooners in Niagara Falls."

"Ah...right," he said assuredly, no clue to any other background on the case. A light bulb immediately lit up in his head nonetheless. Perhaps the romantic location might just be the place to finally make some headway with Lisbon and, if not, at least he'd be able to spend some time with her, feel out the possibility at a later stage. Making sure he sounded casual he responded, "Well I think the best plan to catch them would be an undercover mission. You know, send in a couple pretending to be on honeymoon-"

"I think that's feasible," Fischer interjected. "Jane, you and I will pose as a couple on honeymoon. It's the same hotel targeted each time so more than likely the killer is a staff member there. We'll book in for a couple of nights, see what happens. Hopefully they may even decide to come after us."

Although he tried to contain the shock and horror he felt that his plan had spectacularly backfired he saw Cho out of the corner of his eye, a slight smirk on his lips as he read him correctly. Lisbon raised a questioning eyebrow, her pen tapping the notepad a little more forcefully. Well if nothing else came out of this he knew all hope wasn't lost as she was clearly jealous of him working with Kim in such an intimate environment.

"Well, that sounds like fun" he replied to Fischer, rolling his eyes. "Bait for a serial killer. Every honeymooner's dream."

"I'll be there, Jane. You'll be safe" she responded calmly.

"Hmm. What about the rest of the team?"

Abbott replied, "Wylie, you go up there and take charge of surveillance. I don't think we need anyone else involved in this one just yet. Cho, Lisbon, I have another case-"

"This wasn't what was agreed," Jane heard himself say, his tone abrupt and hard.

Abbott nodded for him to continue. Jane glanced around at the faces watching him for a response. Softer, "A word in private, Dennis."

* * *

As they entered Abbott's office Jane began immediately, intent on not backing down. "This isn't working. This...arrangement. This is not in accordance with the terms of my working here."

"Oh?" Abbott replied, smiling thinly at him. "As far as I'm aware all your conditions have been met."

"Not the first one. Not on this case."

A glimmer of a knowing smile crept up on Abbott's lips. "I see. You want Lisbon involved in this case I assume."

"Yes."

His boss shrugged. "You've never had any problems with working separately until now."

Jane swallowed, stuttering, "Well...maybe I was attempting to be agreeable. To fit in."

Abbott eyebrows hit his forehead. "Agreeable, right," he scoffed quietly.

Jane knew he'd overplayed his hand, could see that Abbott understood his motivation for her involvement. What Jane didn't know was whether he'd indulge him or not.

"Tell you what, Patrick," Abbott continued, "in light of the spirit of Glasnost I'll agree to your stipulation on this matter. For this case. I would hope that would lead to you being more _agreeable_ where other future case are concerned."

Jane shrugged, waving his hand absently, hiding his excitement. "Of course, Dennis."

He was suddenly very fond of his new boss.

* * *

He grinned at Lisbon when he returned to the bullpen. She shot him a glower in return. "Looking forward to your honeymoon?" she asked, stony faced.

He stood by her desk and nodded, still smiling. "I can't wait."

"Well I'm glad the FBI can pay for you and Fischer to get a holiday on them. Second time you've been in foreign climes together. You're making quite a habit of it."

"Well Niagara Falls is hardly foreign climes. Although it has been a while since I've been there. You ever been?"

"No," she snapped, hitting a key with ferocity.

"Oh you should Lisbon. It's beautiful, especially this time of the year, warm weather, outstanding vista, the thunder of the falls in the background-"

"Well I hope a serial killer doesn't get in the way of that romantic setting, Jane," she bristled, getting up from her desk.

"I hope not either, Teresa," he smiled, a seductive twinkle in his eyes.

She frowned for a second at the unexpected gesture and use of her first name before she rolled her eyes and grabbed her coffee cup off her desk and headed to the break room. As soon as she did he immediately raced over to Wylie and whispered in his ear. When she reappeared Wylie was grinning in her direction and nodding to Jane. As Wylie shuffled towards the elevator Jane strolled back to his couch, nodding politely to her.

"What are you up to with Wylie?" she asked.

"Guess."

She sighed wearily. "Fine. Don't tell me."

Ten minutes later Jane watched as Fischer was called into Abbott's office. Her seething look at him when she stormed out two minutes later and back to her own told him the deed was done. A minute later Abbott called the pair of them into his office. "What have you done, Jane?" Lisbon growled at his side.

He put his hand on her lower back as he steered her into the office. "Slight change of plan."

* * *

"You want me to go undercover instead?" Lisbon said to Abbott, her eyes darting to Jane who was sitting beside her, smiling smugly. "Why?"

"Well as Jane pointed out you and he have worked together a long time. Much longer than he and Fischer. And we need to make this look like two people who know each other well to appear convincing. It needs to look legitimate-"

"We've never worked undercover together though. It's years since I have. Not since my days in Vice."

Jane stored that statement away for further scrutiny at another time, his curiosity immensely piqued by the role she might have undertaken there. "Well not per se," he interjected. "But you've followed my lead a few times. Like that time we pretended you had a drinking problem-"

"Only so you could sniff about that guy's office-"

"All right people," Abbott said loudly. He smiled at Lisbon. "See, you're acting like a married couple already."

She rolled her eyes as Jane's smile grew. Softly, "Lisbon, you just need to follow my lead. It'll be fine. I-"

"Please don't say you promise, Jane," she sighed, shaking her head.

He laughed softly, happier than he had been since he'd returned as their familiar banter began to re-establish itself.

"Fine," she said. "Don't suppose I have a choice in the matter."

"That's the spirit," Jane responded brightly.

* * *

As they arrived back at her desk she asked, "Why is this so important to you?"

"You don't want to catch a serial killer?"

"You could do this with Fischer and you know you could. Why get me involved instead?"

"Would you rather I go on honeymoon with Fischer?" he smiled, quirking an eyebrow.

She averted her eyes, hoping to hide her blush. "It's not like it's a real honeymoon."

"Question still stands," he continued.

She crossed her arms across her chest. "So does mine. Why get me involved?"

He relaxed his shoulders, deciding on honesty. "Because I've hardly seen you since I've been back-"

"We see each other every day-"

"Yeah, for ten minutes here and there. Not like it used to be."

She dropped her hands and leaned against her desk. "Things are different now. For one thing I'm not your boss anymore. I can't pick and choose what cases to work on or when I'm sent to investigate with you."

"So then why are you fighting against working with me now?"

"I'm...I'm not," she replied, suddenly confused.

"Excellent," he grinned. He spotted Wylie coming towards them clutching a box.

"Hey Lisbon, Jane. Got them." The coyote opened the box and an array of engagement and wedding bands were revealed. "What the hell!" Lisbon gasped.

"They're from evidence in a jewel heist. Black market so have never been claimed," Wylie responded. "If you're going to be married you need a ring. Or two I suppose."

She noticed Jane was scrutinising the rings carefully, a line between his eyes. She grabbed one quickly and shoved it on her left hand ring finger. "Fine. This one will do. Fits."

Jane immediately pulled it off her finger, looking at the plain gold band with a tiny solitaire at its centre with disdain. "Seriously, Lisbon? What do you think I am, a cheapskate?"

"What are you talking about? It's not like you actually bought any of these or that we are actually engaged!"

"Married, not engaged," he mumbled absentmindedly as he peered inside the box again. A smile popped up on his lips suddenly. "Et voila!" he grinned, pulling out a platinum band with a large square shaped diamond at its centre. "This is the ring I'd pick for you."

Caught up in his excitement she began to relax. It was a truly beautiful ring. "Fine," she smiled, shaking her head. She held out her hand for it but Jane took it instead, turning it before he slid the band onto her wedding ring finger slowly. She swallowed as he gazed at her with an intensity she'd never seen before as he did so. "Fits like a glove," he said softly, rubbing the tips of her fingers afterwards before releasing them.

Wylie cleared his throat, effectively breaking the moment between them. "I'll...I"ll get the others back." He gave Lisbon a piece of paper. "You need to sign that one out."

Still a little off centre she nodded, knowing her face was crimson, focusing on the piece of paper in front of her and not on Jane standing beside her or the charged moment that had just occurred between them.

She read the form and exclaimed, "This ring is worth thirty thousand dollars!"

She turned to Jane, shaking her head, intent on pulling it off. He took her hand again and shook his head in return, stopping her. "Don't worry."

"What if I lose it? I don't wear rings!"

"Well you're wearing this one. If you lose it I'll cover the cost."

"Oh, just like that, huh?"

He shrugged, "Sure. They have casinos in Niagara Falls, don't they?"

* * *

Jane could barely contain his excitement as they boarded the plane. Lisbon, on the other hand, was growing increasingly nervous.

She was going to be staying in the same hotel room as Patrick Jane.

Sleeping with him.

Immediately she corrected that statement, sure Freud himself would have a field day with it.

Sleeping in the same room as him.

Her heart rate picked up of its own accord and she puffed out a breath to calm down. Of course, Jane's overt gestures since they'd taken the case hadn't helped any. He had put his arm around her as they checked in, held her hand as they waited to board and looked soulfully into her eyes more times than she could remember the past two hours. She was so shocked by his sudden change in behaviour she hadn't stopped him. Well truthfully she didn't want to stop him. She knew it must be all about throwing himself into the part he intended to play and a little about embarrassing her as an aside but she had to admit she was enjoying the sudden influx of attention too. And though she was loathe to admit it she couldn't help but wonder if something might spark between them as their time together on this case progressed. She had felt something unmistakeable when he'd slid that ring onto her finger and she was almost certain he wasn't that good an actor not to have felt something himself if how he looked at her was anything to go by. She gazed at the ring on her finger and smiled, allowing her imagination to run wild that they really were together.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" he murmured into her ear, nodding to the ring.

"Suppose," she admitted, turning her head towards the window to conceal the colour he'd added to her cheeks.

He squeezed her hand between them and sighed contentedly, easing himself further into the seat and closing his eyes. When she turned back towards him she noticed their hands still intertwined on the handrest. She scrutinised his face for the first real time since he'd come back into her life. He seemed more at ease, content if not entirely happy. The lines on his face weren't as deep as she remembered. The two years away had healed him in some ways, that was obvious. She smiled then stared at their hands again. Two rings looked back at her. Suddenly she was melancholic about this adventure, as the wedding ring he still wore caught her attention. Even after all this time she had seen nothing that made her believe he was truly over his wife and the band of gold still fastened there even after gaining his revenge spoke volumes to her. She disentangled her hand from his, noting the frown he wore as she did so and turned back to the window. All at once she was well and truly brought back down to the earth that lay miles beneath her.

* * *

Jane woke to find Lisbon asleep beside him, a pout on her face as she dozed. On a whim Jane stealthily moved from the seat to find a cabin crew member. Five minutes later he sat back down, purposefully nudging Lisbon with his arm as he did so.

She stifled a yawn as she woke up. "Almost there?"

"Yeah, an hour or so out I think," he replied.

She yawned again, covering her mouth, her eyes only half open. "Great."

The sound of a bell announced a crew member called Rachel. As she began to speak Lisbon's eyes widened. By the end of the message she was wide awake and livid, staring at Jane like he was a gazelle about to be eaten by her, the lion. The flowery language scattered throughout the communication had Patrick Jane fingerprints all over it.

The message finished as a woman with a high pitched voice excitedly added, "...so many congratulations again to Patrick and Teresa on their recent nuptials. It took them more than a decade to get there but it proves true love really does exist!"

Hollers and whistles followed the announcement and passengers began to look for the couple who had been mentioned. As Jane was about to raise himself from his seat to identify them Lisbon pulled him back down into it roughly.

He rubbed his arm. "Jeez, Lisbon. Take it easy, will you. Isn't that domestic violence?"

She scowled at him, her voice only quiet because they were on an aircraft. "We. Are. Not. Married."

"I'm only trying to get you used to the role, Lisbon. Get a little practice in before we do this for real. If you're this frosty when we get up there we'll never pull this off. We have to make it look believable."

"Yeah? Well it would help if-"

She stopped talking as a coiffured blonde approached them with two glasses of champagne. Jane turned to her immediately. "Thanks, Rachel," he said smoothly.

She dazzled him with a smile. "Of course, Patrick. It was my pleasure." She placed the glasses on his seat tray and continued to smile at him, blatant in her attraction to him and ignoring the woman beside him.

Lisbon rolled her eyes for what she was sure was the tenth time in two hours. If they really were on their honeymoon she'd knock that woman out for looking at him like that. She grabbed a glass of champagne and downed it before she smiled and said sweetly to the crew member, "Thanks, Rachel."

Upon depositing the glass back in the tray she took Jane's face in her hands and pressed her lips firmly to his with a loud smacking noise as Rachel skulked away. She released his face and shoved herself back in her seat with a huff, picking up the Skymall magazine and flicking through it.

"Believable enough for you," she murmured, still agitated, furiously turning the pages.

Jane sat with his face staring forward, blinking rapidly from the shock of the attack of her lips on his. It was certainly not one of the most passionate or tender kisses he'd ever received (more anger and annoyance in it than anything else he quickly surmised) plus he hadn't even had time to respond but...it was a start.

A promising start indeed.

* * *

 **A/N: So, we'd love to hear what you think of the first chapter.**

 **Consulting Patrick Jane is up with the second chapter next!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I hope you enjoy this chapter! I hope you appreciate the humor and starting the rolling of collecting a list of potential suspects. Thanks for all the feedback on Mayzee's chapter, and I hope this one is just as entertaining. Thank you! -ConsultingPatrickJane**

* * *

Chapter 2 – Getting Comfortable

They stood at the check-in counter of the Niagara, Niagara Hotel in the tourist district. The expansive hotel was their target location, according to their case files. The serial murders were in and around the general location of the hotel, and the forensic profiler had briefed them that the perpetrator probably worked close by; a methodical who frequented a place that attracted honeymooners and could supply a good sheath for their activities, since they would need to know the honeymooners up close, having met them or dealt with them in some capacity.

'Can I assist you?' the young, redheaded receptionist inquired. 'Did you have a reservation with us, sir?'

Jane squeezed Lisbon's hand as he tipped over and smiled at the young woman, whose name tag read 'Lilly'. He snuck a peek at Lisbon from the corner of his eye. She was looking at him expectantly, waiting for him to affirm to the receptionist that he did, indeed, have reservations. His smile curved even wider as he cleared his throat and pointed to the name tag.

'Well, Lilly,' he stated, bringing his gaze back up to meet hers, 'It so happens that I do. Patrick Jane is what it should be under. My new bride and I have reservations. I'd like to get checked in as soon as possible. My wife and I don't want to wait to-'

His sentence was interjected by Lisbon's booted foot to his shin. His face contorted in pain and he briefly closed his eyes and counted to ten, letting the sensation pass before he reopened them and looked at Lisbon.

'Now, dear,' he told her, taking his free hand and raising her chin. He could see the defiance in her eyes as he looked at her in muddled amusement. 'It's perfectly natural for two married people to behave in such a way.' He dropped her chin and turned back to the receptionist. 'She's a bit skittish. Certainly you understand.'

The redhead nodded, but seemed a little troubled as she flicked the keys on her computer slowly. 'Of course, sir. And it still is the one bed, right?' she inquired, suddenly not so sure of the couple standing in front of her, with one looking sulky and the other self-assured and borderline creepy.

' _One_ bed?!' Lisbon said suddenly, twisting her head to her pretend husband and then to Lilly. 'I mean… yes. Yes. Yep, that's correct. The _one_ bed. We're married. Right,' she said, pasting a fake, disjointed smile across her face.

When Jane had called in the reservation, she had made it a point to make sure there would be a cot placed in the room, and she was assured that he had made the accommodations accordingly. She was at present standing at the check-in counter with Jane giving her a look that told her to play her poker hand close and a look from the increasingly troubled receptionist.

'Jitters," she told the lady with a shrug. 'You know how it is.'

Lilly said nothing as she handed Jane the key to the room, and the smile she now planted on her was nothing short of obligatory. Jane held up the key and nodded his head at the poor woman before turning himself and Lisbon around and hauling their luggage behind them. When they got to the elevator, Lisbon turned to him with a scowl on her face and dropped her hand from his.

'I said get a cot, Jane!' she whispered. 'Do you even listen to me when I tell you things? I swear, sometimes it's like you live in your own little world.'

'Relax, Teresa,' he ordered her. 'I got the suite. It has a couch to it. You know I like couches. Though, I wouldn't mind a cuddle in the bed…' he teased, causing her to smack him in the chest. 'I think you traumatized Lilly, though.'

Without conscious thought, he reached out and pulled her by the waist against him, taking her chin in his hand. His gaze didn't waver from hers as he leaned in close, bringing his lips to her ear. It was enough that he could feel her shudder involuntarily under his touch.

'They are watching us," he whispered. 'Act like you are happy to be here and that I am the sugar in your tea,' he enjoined her, kissing her earlobe. 'Make it convincing,' he told her, reaching his other hand down to clasp her wrist and move her hand to his slim waist. He raised his lips from her ear and was just about to press them to her parting lips when the elevator opened, and a busboy stepped out.

He groaned and dropped his hand, but before he did, he noticed a buzz in her body under his fingertips; a humming of something... Desire? Need? It was indistinguishable, but he knew he felt it inside her. Something alive and willing, he opined.

'Can I take your bags for you?' the busboy asked. 'My name is Roger.'

Though he was irritated at Roger for interrupting what would have been a really nice moment for them, he grinned at the mousy haired young man and nodded.

'Sure, Roger. Room number 711,' he told him. 'My wife and I are on our honeymoon!' explained Jane, watching as Roger happily took their suitcases and loaded them onto the cart in the lift. 'We are so very happy. Show him your ring, baby.'

Lisbon knew exactly what Jane was doing. He was circulating the word to all they encountered that they were very happy and in love. Since the serial killer was targeting a specific group of happy honeymooners, it made sense to show an overly affectionate persona to any workers they met along the way. Lisbon happily lifted the band (which she secretly adored, even if a little ostentatious for her), and wiggled her finger at the worker, whose eyes bulged at the sight of the large ring.

'Wow,' he proclaimed, his eyes shining in the diamond's light surface. 'That is some ring. You two must be so excited! Congrats!' He pressed the button to proceed to the seventh floor, and Jane and Lisbon filed into the cramped space.

Lisbon felt Jane's hand snake around her waist, squeezing her to his side. He constituted a show of kissing her hairline and she went along by playing with one of the buttons on his shirt, idly leaning her head against his shoulder. All for marking up any potential suspects, of course. This wasn't for her own pleasure… of course, not.

'So, Roger,' Jane asked as the elevator slowly rose. 'How long have you worked here? This is a very nice spot for honeymooners like us, huh? Great views!'

'Yeah,' he agreed readily. 'I've been here some ten years. Nice relaxing place! Loads of opportunities.'

Lisbon looked at Jane sidelong and bit her lip. The slayings had been occurring over the span of eight years, according to the files hidden away in their clothing in their luggage. She knew Jane was picking up on this, as well, because he pressed on. 'Ten years, huh? That's a long time.'

'Every year with honeymooners is equal to two,' he said with a brisk laugh. 'Don't take me wrong, I am happy for you guys and all, but you are horrible tippers and even worse with all that cutesy stuff.'

Jane arched an eyebrow upward. 'That's sad to hear, Roger.'

'Well, you win some, you lose some. Here we are,' he said as the elevator dinged open and deposited them onto the seventh floor. 'Just across the hallway! Easy room to find. I like the easy rooms,' he told them. 'You have the suite.'

Roger took their baggage from the cart and carried them over to their room's door, dropping them and pulling out a key from his front pocket of his uniform. 'Master key,' he said off their look. 'All employees have them.'

Jane nodded his head at him and looked around, noting a young kid with a cart just down the hallway. He turned to Roger as the busboy cleared his throat. He slid the key into the engaging mechanism and turned the knob once the light went from red to green. He opened the door and waited for Jane and Lisbon to enter before he grabbed their bags and trudged in after them, setting them down on the bench next to the door.

'Uh…' Roger said awkwardly. 'Enjoy your evening, Mr. and Mrs…?'

'Jane. Mr. and Mrs. Patrick Jane,' Jane completed. 'Thank you, Roger. You've really been a great help. My wife and I would like some time to break in that big, beautiful bed behind us,' he told him, pointing to the bed, 'so if you'll excuse us?' He reached into his pocket and pulled out a crisp twenty dollar bill and handed it to the busboy. 'Thanks for your help.'

Roger accepted the money and smiled at him. 'Thank you, Mr. Jane. Mrs. Jane,' he said, tipping his uniform hat and turning from the room, closing the door behind him.

'Ugh!' Lisbon said as soon as he departed. 'That was literally a disaster!' She moved over to the bed and plopped herself down, lying back onto the mattress and putting a hand to her head.

'It's because you bear a bad poker face, my dear,' he laughed, joining her on the bed, plopping himself beside her and lying back so they were both staring at the ceiling. 'You have to be more convincing, Teresa.'

'What? We should fall all over each other and slather each other with kisses? Groping?' She scoffed. The weightiness of the wedding ring on her finger was saying yes to all of this, and, to be very honest, so was her pulse and heart. She could feel her pulse rate quicken with each deliberate touch and feel of her, and she could feel her heart racing against her chest with each look in her eyes or smile at her. If it was one thing she was never quite sure of, it was Patrick Jane.

'Well, it wouldn't hurt you, Teresa,' he said, his tone without a touch of amusement behind it. 'I mean, married people kiss and hold hands. Hell, they even have sex,' he teased, wiggling his brows at her. 'If you don't start behaving like you are a newly married and happy woman, people will start to get suspicious. And we are straining to avoid that. Hence, this is called an undercover operation.' He lifted up her hand and pointed from her wedding ring to himself. 'Okay?'

She angled her head and looked up at his hand holding hers with her wedding ring jutted out. It felt deeply, weirdly good. Sure, she had trouble getting down the rudiments of being a pretend married couple, but she would improve, she thought. The pretend kissing and hand holding part was merely between two undercover officials of the law...right?

'So what do you think of Roger?' she asked abruptly, taking her hand from his and bending her head to look at him. 'Any odd vibes?'

Jane sighed and turned his entire body so that he was lying sideways, placing his palm under his head to support it as he looked down at her. His breath caught as he noticed her chestnut curls fanning out around her on the floral coverlet. There wasn't many times when Patrick Jane was rendered speechless, but from all the times he could remember, she had been the source of all of them. Pretending to be married to Teresa Lisbon was not a hard task; it was easy and assured. It was something he only dreamed of doing. Which is why, when given the chance, he had fought for Lisbon over Fischer. Guilt played a small part in it, too. Taking off his ring when he was with Fischer, albeit very temporarily, but being unable to do it for Lisbon when she meant more to him or for this operation, was something of a niche in his system. It bothered him very much. He knew it was no consolation to her, but he hoped in some way, his choice of her to play his wife over Kim would make up a little for that indiscretion.

'Hard to tell. He was here during all the murders,' Jane told her. 'A little bit of a downer. I'll keep him on my list. Right now, though,' he said, lifting himself from the bed, and reaching a hand down to help her up, 'we have a dinner reservation in the lounge in about,' he glanced at his watch, 'an hour.'

'Great,' she said pungently.

'Cheer up,' he stated to her, grasping her chin lightly, running the pads of his fingers against her soft skin. 'It's better to be happy than sad, Teresa! Plus, maybe we can find something interesting in our travels.'

'Like what?' she asked, her voice a mere whisper, her thoughts unable to articulate as his fingers continued their caress.

'Information,' he told her. 'How many times didn't we find out something in the most unlikeliest places?' He dropped his hand from her cheek and grinned. 'So long as you don't act like a prude wife, Teresa. You were quite good on the plane. No so much here. Besides, I am starving.'

He walked away from her to get his luggage, but he could have sworn she said something that would have made a nun blush. He simply pulled his suitcase off the bench and placed it on the bed.

'Shower is all yours...wife,' he said, laughing at her as she stomped across the room to her own suitcase.

'I am _not_ a prude!' she told him, taking her suitcase with her into the bathroom and slamming the door shut. 'And the plane was just for effect!' she hollered through the closed door.

He laughed as he heard the water running from the shower. He loved it when she wouldn't admit her jealousy or her inability to be affectionate when moments called for it. But she'd have to put that aside and act like a normal married couple. And, if her earlier body signals were telling him anything, she was very receptive to his touch. Good. He'd have to use that to his advantage.

* * *

Forty-five minutes later, they were taking the elevator back down to the lobby, where the lounge was set off on the right-hand side, through a set of double doors that branched out into the lobby. They passed the front desk, but the young Lilly was not around. Jane guided Lisbon with a palm to the small of her back inside the lounge, which was playing a soft jazz tuned in rhythm to the quiet hustle and bustle of the workers inside. Lisbon hoped that they weren't over dressed. She, on a whim, had packed one of her good red dresses that she had purchased awhile ago. Jane was decked out in his three-piece suit, a look she loved on him, but would probably never tell him. Every other vacationer and honeymooning couple was dressed casually.

'I feel a little over-dressed,' she whispered to Jane as they followed the Maitre d' to a table in the center of the lounge. The place was exceptionally busy, and only their table seemed open.

'Nonsense,' Jane told her. 'You look perfect, Teresa. Beautiful.' He pulled out her chair for her and sat next to her as menus were dropped in front of them. 'Besides, the more we stand out, the better our chances of catching this creep.'

'And how do you suppose we find information?' she asked, lifting her menu and sighing. 'This place is full of travelers and people on their real honeymoon, Jane.'

'Always the pessimist,' said Jane. 'Relax.' He reached over and took the menu from her hand and placed it face down on the table before grabbing her hand and smiling at her. 'Follow my lead,' he whispered.

He leaned over the table and placed his lips to her neck, allowing his hand to move up into her hair, catching dark brown tufts between his fingers as he felt her loosen her tense expression and melt herself into the light kiss against her neck column. He moved his mouth up her jawline and to her ear, where he whispered, 'There is a waiter near the kitchen door behind you. While everyone else is minding their business and not giving us the time of day, he's staring at us very intently. His body language suggests he's going to be our source for information.' He brought his mouth back to her neck and gave her soft skin another peck before leaning back in his seat.

She was a little shocked at how easily she was able to fall into his kisses and touches. She was actually amazed that she melted into that kiss on her neck alone. She wanted to believe that it was just her adhering to Jane's wishes she be more real in their undercover operation, but there was just something different about the way he kissed her. It felt almost as if he was actually in a relationship with her.

'Are you going to call him over?' she finally asked, watching as Jane picked his menu back up and hid behind it. 'Didn't you want information and you think he has it?'

'Of course I do, Teresa,' he said behind the menu. 'But it's best to get him by himself.'

'And?'

'And so we shall,' he told her. 'I think the Bourbon Chicken sounds delightful, my darling wife,' he added. 'They even saute the veggies.'

'Wait! Wait! What do you mean? You kissed me on my neck for nothing?' she asked. 'What do you mean get him by himself?' She reached over and yanked the menu from his hands. 'You better tell me what you are planning or there will be a very unhappy wife, Jane!'

'Well, Teresa,' he answered. 'I plan on ordering, eating and burping up my Bourbon Chicken. Then I thought we'd go brief Abbott on what we have so far, which is admittedly nothing, and hopefully sleep. You on your comfy bed, me on the lumpy couch. Like normal.' He sighed at her look and shook his head. 'Okay. I will tell you. That waiter is not just any waiter. He's the one that delivers room service.'

'How do you know?' she asked, glancing back at the guy who was no longer staring at them.

'Two reasons, Teresa. One, he has a master key sticking off the side of his uniform, which he uses when guests tell them they won't be in their rooms when he brings up their food, two, I saw him earlier when we first went to our room delivering room service.'

'And the kiss on the neck?' she asked exasperatedly.

'Big elephants can always understand small elephants, Teresa. Practice makes perfect.' He smiled at his old mnemonics.

'What?' she asked confusedly.

'Because, Teresa. Because.'

'Oh! Sheep dip!' she said, picking up her menu angrily and hiding behind it. 'What _now_ , then?'

'Now we enjoy a nice meal, share some wine, and then go to our room,' he replied, raising his hand to gather the attention of the waiter serving their section to order. 'Don't order dessert. We'll order that room service.'

'You wanted to come down here to get information!' she reminded him, boring a hole into him.

'And I did,' he assured her. 'We have to eat.'

She groaned, but she knew he was right. The waiter took their orders and brought them their wine. Settling back into their chairs, Lisbon and Jane were quiet for several minutes in reflective silence. He looked at her, and she looked at him, both lost in their own thoughts and feelings. Her eyes found his wedding band, which gleamed brightly in the lights above them. She tilted her head as she took it in. She wondered, now that she was in that line of thought, why Jane hadn't changed out his wedding band to match hers. A part of her knew that was quite an irrational response to a fake marriage, but she couldn't help noticing that he wouldn't take off his ring, even for a pretend situation like this. Her eyes flickered back up to his, and she thought she saw a small hint of regret in his eyes after watching her staring at his ring.

'You are wondering why I am wearing my own and not one from evidence, eh?' he asked her, taking a long sip of his wine before setting his glass down on the table. 'The ring, I mean.'

'I wasn't-'

'Yes, you were,' he contradicted her with a laugh. 'I can read your eyes, Teresa. There are no mysteries buried that deeply from me.'

She took a sip of her wine, set the glass down and leaned forward, placing her arms on the table.

'Okay,' she replied. 'I was. I'm sorry. I was just curious. It doesn't match mine,' she pressed, holding up her hand to view her large ring reflecting the lights above their table.

He nodded and leaned forward, inclining his head. 'Understandable. The simple answer is I already had this one,' he told her. 'The more complex answer is I didn't know how I'd feel about...'

'About what?'

He smiled at her. 'I would tell you, but our food is about to arrive. We'll finish this idle conversation at a later stage. I promise,' he said, turning just as the waiter brought their food to their table. 'I smelled the Bourbon,' he said off her quizzical look.

'Clever,' she told him.

They conversed while they ate, but it did not go back to the topic of his ring or anything to do with the bands at all. They left that topic for some other time. Instead, they laughed and teased easily at Jane's stories from the island, and a few stories from his childhood as a pick pocket. The night slipped outside as they finished up their meal and wine. Jane would reach over and kiss her cheek or touch her hands and arm, something she thought was for the benefit of their personas, but every once in a while, she would pretend it was real. The ring, touches and smiles were all for her.

 _Because, Teresa. Because_.

That thought played over and over again in her head. What did he mean by that? Because it was part of the con? Because he just wanted to? How silly! Jane was just playing his part... _wasn't he_?

They paid for their meal and headed back up to their room. Once inside, Jane turned to Lisbon with a smile, gesturing to the hotel phone. Lisbon nodded and excused herself into the bathroom to brief Abbott on her cell phone. When she came out a few minutes later, Jane was sprawled on the bed. He tapped the space beside him for her to join him.

She hesitated.

'I'm not going to jump you,' he told her. 'But there isn't a lot of choice to sit. The couch is lumpy, and the stools at that table over there,' he pointed to a small island off to their left, 'are not practical in that dress of yours. Which, by the way, I am not complaining about. Just pointing out the obvious.'

She bit her lip and walked slowly to the bed, still deciding whether to join him or risk the stool showing more than she cared to at present time. She frowned at his sudden, uproariously deep laugh. 'I won't do anything funny,' he said, holding up his hands in defense. 'I promise, Teresa.'

She narrowed her eyes at him. The laugh felt like a challenge to her. One she, Teresa Lisbon, wouldn't back down from. She hitched her dress up just a tad and crawled up beside him. 'I am not afraid of you, Patrick Jane,' she told him in a low whisper, a small smile crossing her features. 'Don't let my hesitation fool you.'

'I didn't think you were,' he assured her. 'And you don't _ever_ need to hesitate with me, Teresa,' he told her honestly.

He was so close to her face that he could count the miniscule eyelashes flowing out from her eyelids, and feel her quickening breath on his face. His eyes darted to her lips and back up to her eyes, leaning further into her infinitesimally...

That is when the door to their hotel room burst open. In one quick blur, Lisbon leapt up off the bed, reached under her dress to her thigh holster, and pulled the small profile gun from it, lifting it to welcome their new guest.

'Teresa!' Jane called out, lifting himself from the bed and taking the weapon from her, which she didn't want to let go of. 'It's just our dessert!'

'Oh...' She looked at the terrified young man from the lounge earlier and frowned. 'Sorry. Honeymoon jitters.'

The young man just looked from Jane to Lisbon and held up his hands. 'Room service...' he whispered, his shaking hands uncovering two cannoli on a plate.

'You keep a _gun_ strapped to your _thigh_?' he whispered in her ear. 'Really?'

There was so much he was looking forward to finding out on this little undercover excursion.

So _very_ much.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hello... And then there was one left... Me. :)**

 **The response to the first two chapters has been great so thank you to everyone who has followed fav and reviewed the story, I am sure I speak for the others when I say a big thank you, you guys reading make all the hard work worth it. I hope you enjoy this chapter too. We are trying to keep this story fun light hearted and I hope that's what I have managed to do too. Thanks for reading. Mayzee is up next... X**

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Chapter 3 - Disappointment

Lisbon turned over restlessly in the large kingside bed for what felt like the hundredth time that night. The numbers on the bedside clock flashed four thirty two am and glowed annoyingly brightly back at her. She could see Jane's dark silhouette across the room on the leather couch, and with his soft snores filling the air, it was clear he was sleeping soundly with no concerns or worries.

Unlike her.

She rolled onto her back, sighing frustratingly up at the ceiling whilst she replayed the events of what had happened earlier.

First, she had nearly blown their cover with the gun incident but thankfully Jane had smooth talked their asses out of trouble, convincing the waiter that his new wife was just a very jittery nervous gun enthusiast. She wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't some hypnosis involved in selling the tale. Jane had wanted to get the waiter up to their suite alone to question him and delve for more information but after Lisbon's quick draw McGraw stunt the poor guy had gone into some sort of nervous shock, barely able to string two sentences together. Jane was unable to get a good read on him or able to tell if he was being genuine. Either way Lisbon had managed to scare the living day lights out of him and there was no way Jane was getting the information he wanted from the guy in that moment.

Then there was the odd new chemistry that was building up between them to contend with. Whilst at dinner there had been a few tender touches and a couple of quick pecks here and there. They were undercover, pretending to be a honeymoon couple and putting on the act, but there had been something different about that first long sensual kiss Jane had placed on the column of her neck, more real somehow.

To say she was confused was an understatement. She had been feeling a little off kilter ever since Jane had requested they be put together for this undercover mission. He had only been released from the detention center two weeks previously and once again it seemed her whole life had been turned on its head.

It had always felt that way with Jane, ever since the day he entered the CBI, and her life, well over a decade ago. Her feet had barely touched the ground at the FBI and suddenly she found herself on a big undercover mission in New York State, posing as Mrs Patrick Jane, trying to catch another serial killer.

After Jane had worked his magic, finally managing to calm the waiter down after Lisbon had pointed a loaded gun directly at his head, the shaken hotel employee had left their suite leaving them alone once more. They both sat back down on the bed and began looking through the case files as they discussed the previous murder cases.

The first murder had taken place at the hotel resort back in 2007. A young couple, Polly and Tim Mitchell, had been staying at the resort enjoying their honeymoon when they were shot dead and discovered by a hotel worker. Both had been given one clean shot in the head and were found in the massage room of the hotel spa.

Two years on from that, the discovery of another honeymoon couple, Donna and Simon Cooper, happened. They had been murdered exactly the same way as the Mitchells. This time though both their bodies were found laying naked on the bed in their honeymoon suite. This exact same pattern had continued on for several years with the exception of the most recent murders which had happened three months ago.

First, there had only been a ten month gap between the last two killings and secondly, the killer had actually tortured the last two victims before shooting them dead. The killer had suddenly changed their tactics, but why? It was clear this sick psycho was escalating and needed to be stopped. Problem was there was never any forensic evidence at the crime scenes and the hotel's poor security footage showed no unusual activity or persons nearby at the time of the murders.

The only solid lead they had was that all the honeymoon suites had been accessed with an employee keycard. Whoever this killer was, they were like a ghost, coming and going without being spotted and being extremely clever to never be caught. All hotel employees had been interviewed by state police and all had seemed to have firm and solid alibis at the times of the murders, leaving the police with no viable suspects or leads.

Finally after eight years and five very brutal murders the local state police happily handed the open case over to the FBI to solve. The FBI had more resources and time on their hands, as well as the expertise to handle a open murder mystery like this.

After hours of reading case reports and looking over evidence and crime scene photos they sat enjoying the rest of their cannoli Jane had ordered them, both choosing to ignore the highly sexually charged moment that happened a few hours before the waiter had unfortunately interrupted it.

Eventually they ended up standing in front of the large bay view windows looking out over the magnificent falls. With their honeymoon suite being up on the seventh floor it gave great panoramic views and, as darkness descended, the cascading water was lit up in an amazing coloured light show.

'It's beautiful,' Lisbon said slightly in awe at the size of the natural wonder in front of her.

She hadn't yet had a real chance to see the falls since their arrival, focusing more on the undercover operation side of things than the beautiful surrounding landscape . She had never visited Niagara Falls before, only ever having seen it in pictures or on TV but actually seeing and hearing the beautiful natural wonder for her own eyes and ears was something else entirely.

'Yes. It is,' Jane replied softly. But his eyes weren't looking at the falls any longer but focusing sideways on Lisbon's beautiful face.

Part of him still couldn't believe he was back in the States and in her company, let alone getting the opportunity of sharing a hotel suite with her. If this trip worked out the way he hoped it would, he would definitely be owing his new boss, Abbott, a massive favor.

Lisbon caught Jane staring her at and frowned in concern, turning to face him. She noticed his eyes had glazed over and she could see he was caught up in some sort of deep emotion. It wasn't very often Patrick Jane let his mask slip to others but despite the two years of separation, she still knew him well enough this was definitely one of those times.

'Jane? Are you okay?'

He didn't respond to her question but calmly stepped forward and placed one hand gently on her shoulder and slowly leaned his face closer to hers. Lisbon froze as he slowly moved towards her. She felt like her whole body was cemented to the floor and she couldn't have moved even if she had wanted to. Her heart started loudly thumping against her chest, or maybe it was just the noise from the waterfalls outside, she wasn't quite sure. Either way she sensed what was about to happen and could see Jane pupils dilating as his face came towards her.

She knew that she didn't want to stop him this time either. Just as his lips were barely centimetres away she slowly fluttered her eyes closed in anticipation of his soft lips being pressed against hers. But after a few moments and the feel of a brush of air near her cheek bone she reopened them. She turned her head to find that Jane had totally bypassed her face and was actually bending down for something next to her.

'Do you mind if I finish this?' Jane asked as he reached over the coffee table behind her, picking up her unfinished plate of cannoli. 'Shame for it to go to waste. Wouldn't you say?'

Jane straightened up, grinning back at her. He took a few steps away creating more space between them and headed back over to the bed, leaving a stunned and very (sexually) frustrated Lisbon stood alone at the bay window.

She couldn't believe it. She had been 99.9% sure Jane was going to kiss her. His face, his eyes, his movements all indicated that was what he was about to do, but she had obviously read his attentions and their current situation totally wrong. It wasn't her that he had wanted, it was her cannoli.

Disappointment quickly flooded through her veins and she suddenly wanted nothing more than to have Jane kiss her and not in a 'we are pretending to be undercover kind of kiss' but a real life passionate kiss. Within a few hours she had gone from feeling anxious and unnerved around him to desperately wanting to feel his lips and his body against hers.

'Uh, yeah, sure,' was all she could muster as a reply, deflated by what had just happened.

Or what hadn't happened, in this case.

'We should probably get some sleep. It's been a long day plus we have a busy day ahead of us tomorrow,' Jane replied, finishing off the last of the delicious dessert and moving to grab his new dark blue satin pyjamas from his luggage bag.

'Okay...' Lisbon replied quietly, still a little shocked by how wrong she had been as Jane headed towards the large bathroom to get ready for bed. It was then Lisbon's brain kicked back into gear and a slight worry laced in her tone. 'Hang on? What are we doing tomorrow?'

'Honeymoon stuff, of course.' A big grin spread across Jane's face as he shut the bathroom door behind him, leaving Lisbon alone and feeling even more confused than she already was.

* * *

Arriving down to breakfast a little after seven thirty the next morning the tall hostess showed them to a table centered in the middle of the large busy lounge, advising them that a waiter would be along shortly to take their drinks order.

'You okay?' Jane asked cautiously, pouring himself and Lisbon a glass of water from the large jug sat on their the table.

She had barely said two words towards him all morning since they had gotten their early wake up call. He knew that she was secretly sulking and pissed at him about what happened in the hotel room last night.

He had desperately wanted to kiss her when the opportunity had presented itself but he had refrained himself. He had seen how uneasy she was finding this sudden change in their relationship so he had decided the best thing was to slow down his real seduction game instead. Ease her into it slowly.

She was still trying to keep herself emotionally distant from him. She had been ever since he had been released from the FBI detention suite. He wondered if it was all connected to her jealousy over the whole Fischer/island situation. She had three months whilst he had been in solitary confinement to let her imagination run wild with ideas of what had happened between him and Fischer in South America and her cold distance from him was her own way over protecting herself.'ll Or perhaps there were deeper, more profound issues at work.

Since the undercover honeymoon operation had started the sexual chemistry was slowly building between them but he didn't want her to just give into her physical desires, he wanted something more long term and meaningful between them.

A future.

If he rushed things he could end up making things even more strained between them than they all ready were. Besides it wouldn't hurt to hold back a little for now during their new developing relationship, it would give him a chance to really romance and seduce her over the next few days and make her see it had nothing to do with the undercover mission either.

'I am fine,' she retorted a little sharply but plastered on a fake smile to try and prove she was perfectly okay.

Jane gently bit the inside of his cheek trying to hide his amusement by how bad of an actress she really was sometimes. He placed his hand gently down on top of hers and instantly felt her body tense by his contact. He lifted the palm of her hand upwards, placing it softly against his lips and watched as her cheeks darkened by his intimate gesture.

'You know Lisbon, if you're going to blush every time I touched you, this undercover plot isn't going to be a success. Relax, you're on honeymoon... remember,' he whispered, chuckling at her shyness. Before Lisbon could give a response a blonde waitress appeared in front of the table.

'Hello there, I am Mandy, your waitress for this morning. Can I get you any drinks?'

'Yes, you may, thank you Mandy. I will have a pot of earl grey tea and my beautiful wife here will have a very strong black coffee.'

'Okay, I will go get those for you sir. Please help yourself to the buffet breakfast when you are ready.' The waitress beamed a seductive smile at Jane without even glancing in Lisbon's direction. What was it with these women and the inability to keep their eyes off her husband? Fake husband.

Once the waitress had walked away and out of earshot, swaying her hips a little over dramatically Lisbon noticed, she turned her attention back to Jane and investigating the case.

'So? Do you think we need to scope out some more of these hotel workers? It's a big resort, lots and lots of potential suspects according to that police resort. They also have a luxury spa here. That is where one of the first murders scenes took place. Maybe we should head over there, see if we can learn anything. The first murder is always where-'

'No, there's no need to rush this investigation Lisbon, we have a few days, more if we need them. Besides I have other plans for us today,' Jane said interrupting her train of thought.

His eyes slowly drew away from hers and across the large lounge to something much more of interest to him. A big smile spread across his face as he stared out across the lounge room, packed full of tourists all getting ready for the day ahead.

'Such as?' Lisbon asked, a little annoyed but curious as to why Jane was still being secretive and tight lipped about things.

'Patience my love, all will become clear soon enough. First, we need to eat a big hearty breakfast and those scrambled eggs over there ...' Jane nodded his head in the direction of the large buffet counter, '...are calling my name.'

As Lisbon reluctantly started to get up from the table to follow Jane to the buffet he gently stilled his hands on her shoulders, pushing her softly back down into her chair.

'No, sit back down my love. I will go get you your breakfast, you just sit here and relax.'

Jane leaned down placing a soft peck to her cheek making her blush rosy pink again. He gripped her left shoulder letting her know that they were being watched. He had spotted the nervous looking member of waiting staff who had delivered the cannoli watching them since they had arrived down for breakfast and they needed their undercover honeymoon act to be fully back in place before any more suspicions were raised.

Lisbon had already pulled her gun on one hotel worker so far and they had only been in place less than twenty four hours. They really needed to up their honeymoon game if they were going to catch this sicko.

A short while later Mandy the waitress returned to the table carrying a tray of their drinks and not bothering to hide her disappointment that the handsome blond was no longer around to be seen. She politely passed Lisbon the drinks and quickly made her leave.

Lisbon sat back in her chair taking a long sip of her steaming coffee enjoying a few minutes of alone time. Strong coffee was just what she required so early in the morning and could already feel the caffeine making her start to feel better **.**

A young female hotel worker placed a flyer down on the edge of the table and smiled sweetly at Lisbon as she continued on snaking through the busy lounge. Lisbon picked up the piece of paper to see that the hotel was hosting a big masquerade ball on Saturday night for all guests. Black tie event. All food and drink included. Tickets were available to purchase at the reception desk.

She paused reading, as her cell phone that sat on the table, started to vibrate. Seeing it was Wylie's name flashing on the screen she quickly answered it.

'Hey Wylie? Where are you?' Lisbon asked quietly, looking around her making sure no one was listening in on her conversation. Abbott had advised them both before that Wylie had been sent ahead to the hotel to help with the surveillance side of things and would meet them there in private.

'Look...to...your...left,' Wylie said in a low deep voice.

Lisbon slowly turned her head to see a odd looking young man situated about four tables along from theirs, sat alone at a table on his cell. He was wearing a large red Nike baseball cap and what look like a dodgy curly black wig underneath it, Rayban sunglasses and a bright green and yellow Hawaiian shirt with a large camera hanging down around his neck.

Wylie moved his head downwards letting the dark shades slip along his nose so Lisbon could recognize it was him. Giving her a quick wink Wylie turned his head back and carried on eating.

'Nice shirt, who did you borrow that from? Jane?' Lisbon said quietly laughing, very amused by Wylie's over the top disguise. He obviously hadn't done too many undercover operations in his time as a FBI agent.

Whilst Jane had being wearing a three piece suit for their fake honeymoon trip unfortunately she had spotted in his luggage that he had packed those god awful island shirts of his too. Maybe she would have to actually tell him that she preferred the three piece suits if the occasion ever arose. She could just say it was part of the undercover act as his wife but secretly letting her own desires on how she liked to see him dressed.

'Hey, this shirt cost me a lot of money,' Wylie said, a little offended that Lisbon wasn't impressed by his undercover attire. 'Anyway, this is my undercover tourist outfit, I have several other great undercover outfits with me. The hotel think I am here to upgrade the CCTV and security systems, which means I have pretty much all access to the whole resort right now. I am staying in room 314, I should have the last of the surveillance gear up and running by the end of the day though. I am about to go back up to my room now.' Wylie wiped his mouth clean with the napkin and gathered up his stuff to leave the lounge.

'Okay, text me when you have it all fully up and running and we will come find you. Look, I best get off the line, I am supposed to be honeymoon. Apparently...'

'Yeah, taking of which, where is Jane?'

'He is over... Oh Jesus. Where the hell has he gone?'

Lisbon abruptly ended the call, spinning herself around in her chair searching the busy lounge. He was supposed to be getting her something to eat but had totally disappeared in the process. Just as she threw her napkin down on the table to leave she spotted Jane re-entering the lounge carrying a large bag from the hotel resort gift shop. She slowly sat back down in her chair as he approached the table, sporting a mischievous look on his face.

'Where have you been? I thought the s _crambled eggs were calling your name_?' Lisbon said mockingly repeating his exact words to her a few minutes ago and not seeing he had any scrambled eggs anywhere on him.

'Meh, they were much too dry and over cooked when I got a closer look, so I popped back to the kitchen area and requested that Eugene-'

'Eugene?' Lisbon arched her eyebrow at him for using first name terms with the staff.

'Yes. Eugene, he is the head chef here at the resort. Well, anyway, I showed him how to make the perfect scrambled eggs. Nice man, despite all the scary tattoos and being twenty three stone heavy.'

'I bet that went down like a lead balloon,' Lisbon quipped, taking a sip of her coffee and knowing exactly how she would feel if someone like Patrick Jane had popped back to show her how to do her job.

Jane ignored her little dig and continued explaining his movements. 'Anyway, whilst Eugene happily agreed to make us a fresh batch of eggs using my secret techniques, I popped by the gift shop to get you a little present.'

With that Jane moved the large bag he had been carrying to the top of the table in front of her. He beamed one of his winning smiles towards her as he began pouring himself out a cup of earl grey tea.

'You got me a gift?' Lisbon asked shocked, her voice softening, remembering the adorable pony he once got her for her birthday and wondering what unique beautiful gift he had chosen for her this time round.

'Yes, that's what a man does when he is in love, isn't it?' Jane stated softly, his voice kept low and words completely sincere as he asked her.

Her heart rate picked up at the intense way he was staring at her over the rim of his cup. This charged moment between them felt real again and not part of the undercover con they were currently in.

There was a part of her that felt her heart start to melt by his romantic gesture. She reached her arm completely into the gift bag, excited to see what he had gotten her. When her hand reached the unexpected gift inside, her face immediately fell in disappointment. Hesitantly she pulled a hideous bright yellow plastic rain mac with matching hood out of the gift bag.

'It's of a very good quality material. Two layer waterproof in fact. Breathable. It's a special Niagara Niagara hotel resort rain Mac,' Jane stated cheerfully, sipping his tea and leaning back is his chair observing her. 'The two very nice and helpful ladies in the gift shop said it's one of the best you can get for keeping dry.'

'Dry?' Lisbon replied, screwing her face in disdain as she rubbed the plastic rubbery material against her hands and holding it up more in the light.

Jane rolled his eyes by her slow uptake. 'Yes, dry, Teresa. Don't worry I've got a matching one too. We can look like a proper honeymoon couple that way.' Jane leaned over pulling another hideous yellow Mac out of the bag and held it up against his torso proudly.

'And they didn't do a less blinding colour?... why do we need... _this_?' she asked hoping this was all some sort of practical joke he just hadn't let her in on yet. She wasn't even attempting to hide her disgust by his choice of matching clothing for them or the ridiculous brightness of the said articles.

'Because Teresa, we are going on a boat tour to see to the wonderful falls, of course. Why don't you try it on, see if it fits.' Lisbon reluctantly held it up against her small frame. 'Et voila! Perfect size and it suits you very well, my little honey bunny, I will go see if our specially made breakfast is ready yet.'

Jane leaned over pecking her quickly on the cheek again as he spotted Mandy the female waiting staff clearing the plates from the empty nearby table opposite them and secretly watching their exchange. Once more Jane left the breakfast table, leaving once more a very disappointed Lisbon alone with her brand new very bright yellow rain Mac.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Mayzee back again...well I am sure feeling the pressure after the last two great chapters penned by the other ladies. Hope you like this one too. Consulting Patrick Jane is up next.**

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Chapter 4 – Hot & Cold

'Now that's what I call scrambled eggs!' Jane smiled as he scoffed down a forkful.

Lisbon picked at hers, shrugging as she did so. 'They're just eggs, Jane. And we're supposed to be investigating murders here, not going off on an excursion to Niagara Falls.'

'I got the tickets from the Concierge and made a big show of being on honeymoon when I spoke to him to get the word out about us. And how suspicious would it look if we came here on our honeymoon and didn't actually go to see them?'

She knew his reasoning was sound but she despised him still being so presumptuous. 'You know I hate boats but I suppose that didn't matter to you.'

'What's that supposed to mean?'

'It's means you're doing the same thing you've always done. Going off on your own without taking my opinion into account. Of course I shouldn't be surprised, as long as you get what you want-'

'Jeez woman, can you lighten up!' he snapped, quietening his voice when he saw a couple of people from other tables look in their direction.

She glared at him and was about to fire back when he put his hand up to stop her. Softer, 'I'm sorry, okay? I thought...well I thought you might want to see them for yourself up close, not out of a hotel room window.' He sighed, growing increasingly exasperated both by her attitude and with himself for not thinking this through better.

'What's wrong, Lisbon?' he asked gently. 'Do you hate this assignment that much? Is it that much of a chore to spend time alone with me again?'

Surprised by his candidness she didn't reply for a few seconds. She could tell he was trying to get them back to where they were before he left even through the guise of being on 'honeymoon'. He was making an effort but she was holding back, afraid if she allowed her guard to drop fully in front of him again she might let him see how much she still cared for him despite how much he'd hurt her in the past. Now that Red John was out of the way they didn't have that white whale in between them, that reason or excuse not to act on their feelings. _If_ Jane actually had those feelings for her. Acting offhand and snarky was easier to keep him at a distance so as not to go down that path, a whole lot less devastating than discovering he didn't reciprocate how she felt about him.

'It's not that at all.' She fumbled for an excuse for her behaviour. 'I just...I just really don't like boats,' she offered lamely. It was true but hardly enough for her to fly off the handle like she had.

He smiled and nodded, puffed out a breath. 'Okay, well there are a variety of excursions. I'll change it to one more to your liking.'

'But Jane we really should be working.'

'Well how do you know the murderer doesn't work as a tour guide? Going there might be a breakthrough for the case,' he tried.

'Yeah? What's the likelihood?'

'Well I admit it's a long shot.' He thought back to when he was on the island, almost certain he'd never see her again. He smiled. 'But not the first one I've landed.'

'Okay, so if we go this morning then can we actually do some proper work this afternoon? You'll actually focus on the case?'

'I promise, scout's honour,' he smiled with a little salute.

She laughed softly, 'God, you're still such a child, sometimes.'

'Will you promise me something in return?'

'To lighten up?' she smirked.

He bit the inside of his cheek. 'If you wouldn't mind. It would make things go much more smoothly.'

She nodded, letting go of a breath. 'It's just been a long time since I've been undercover. I'll improve,' she smiled, kissing him softly on the cheek to make her point. She noticed something she rarely saw in Jane, a hint of shyness at her gesture, a small smile as he looked back to his plate. Apart from on the plane, which really couldn't be categorised as a kiss at all, it was the first overt gesture she'd made as part of their cover and he seemed a little unbalanced by it.

But only for a second.

'So,' he said brightly, 'Tell me about your time in Vice. What role did you play?'

She rolled her eyes at him. 'I'm sure you can imagine.'

'Actually I have quite a few parts in mind I'm sure you have the necessary...skill set for.' He leaned in a little closer. 'Come on, Teresa, put me out of my misery. I'm your husband, I won't blame you for your past career choices before you met me.'

'You're hilarious,' she deadpanned. 'Take my advice and leave it alone. You already know far too much about me. I'm not giving you something else you can embarrass me with at a later stage.'

He grinned back. 'Okay, then just tell me one thing, can you use a pole?'

She leaned in, touched his hand gently and gazed into his eyes, suddenly remembering the part she'd had to play of that of a cocktail waitress in a strip club where she'd had to flirt outrageously with the customers to gain information on drugs being distributed there. She stroked his fingers leisurely and sensually with one hand, batting her eyelashes slowly. With her other she tugged gently on the curls at the nape of his neck, her nails grazing the skin there as she pulled his face towards hers. She saw his pupils dilate and his expression change from one of amusement to one of bewilderment and arousal as he stared back. She heard his breathing quicken slightly. Buoyed on by her old routine working even on a man like Jane she moved her lips to his ear, allowing a few breaths to tickle it before she spoke. 'Oh yes, Patrick,' she whispered. Jane nodded and she heard him swallowing, a short pant expelling from his lips as she said his first name. Before he could speak she added in her normal tone, 'And if you bring up that subject again I'll show you how adept I am at sticking one up your ass.'

Immediately she moved back into her seat, smiling to herself. With gusto she dived into the scrambled eggs. 'You know you were right, these are magnificent eggs.'

Jane took a few seconds to recover as he focused on easing the tightening of his pants before he cleared his throat. 'Well you were right. You're improving already.'

* * *

As they made their way back to the room Lisbon filled Jane in on Wylie's arrival. Jane had more or less gotten over Lisbon's little play with him at the breakfast table but every time he thought of it and recalled her soft breath in his ear his heart rate picked up. As they entered the room it took an inordinate amount of self control not to pin her to the door and feast on her lips. She had stirred something in him he hadn't felt in a very long time. Pure lust for another human being. While he wanted a romantic relationship with her he had no idea until now how the physical side of things might turn out if they took that step. He thought it might take them a while to establish things bedroom wise but now instinctively he knew there would be no such problems. Lisbon was always fiery and passionate by nature and by the brief glimpse he'd just seen he saw that was the case sexually too. Even though she was playing a part she would never have been able to do it quite so convincingly otherwise.

'So,' she smiled, trying on her new raincoat after which she grimaced, 'It seems he has a suitcase full of disguises with him. I told him we'd call by his room later on once he's set up.'

She saw Jane search through his suitcase as he replied, 'Well that should provide some amusement. I wonder what I can get him to dress up in just for the hell of it. Cocktail dress, maybe?'

'Don't be so cruel.'

Jane laughed. 'It's not being cruel. It's called challenging our young friend.'

'For your own amusement.'

Unabashed, 'Well who else's amusement would I do it for?'

The smile dropped from her lips when she saw him produce one of his island shirts. 'You're wearing _that_?' she said, before she even realised the words were out of her mouth. She had a sudden memory of her mother saying the exact same thing to her father when he made a bad wardrobe choice.

Jane glanced at his shirt and then back to her. 'You don't like my shirt?'

'No...I mean...it's none of my business...wear what you like.' She blushed furiously and began to flick through the tourist magazine left in their room.

'It's been a long time since a woman gave me fashion advice.'

She closed her eyes briefly, embarrassed by overstepping the mark. She wasn't Jane's wife but she was obviously getting into the role more than she realised and now she'd just dredged up a memory of his dead wife. 'I'm sorry. I-' she began but when she looked over at him he was smiling at her.

He glanced back at the shirt in his hands. 'I think it's cheery myself but then I didn't have a lot of options on the island. But maybe you're right. Maybe it's time for a new look now I'm back.' He smirked at her, still in her raincoat. 'Although when you're wearing that you really have no room to talk yourself.'

She relaxed her shoulders and smiled. 'You know this thing is horrendous?!'

'Well I might not have the best taste in shirts but I'm not blind, Lisbon.'

They smiled at each other for a few seconds as he put the shirt back in the case. 'So, what look do you think I should go for?' Her eyes must have given him the answer. 'Ah, I see. You don't want me in a new look.' He gestured to the three piece suit he'd worn to breakfast. 'You prefer the old look.'

She nodded shyly. 'When I think of you...when I...thought of you when you were away...it's how I always imagined you,' she said quietly.

He took a few steps closer and without realising it they were suddenly face to face. 'Did you do that often?' he asked gently. 'Think of me?' He stuttered slightly, 'I mean...apart from when you got my letters.'

'I'm sure you already know the answer to that,' she whispered, her eyes flicking to his lips momentarily.

He shook his head slightly. 'Actually I don't.' He smiled, amended his response. 'Didn't.'

He took a breath and touched her cheek, caressing it as he brought his fingers to her chin before tilting it towards him. 'I missed you so much,' he breathed. 'Writing to you was the only thing that helped.'

As he was about to close the gap between them the phone in the room buzzed. Both froze, lips centimetres apart. A second later Lisbon pulled away and he shook his head, cursing silently.

She answered the call and listened for a moment. 'Okay, thanks. Yes, we'll be right there.' As she put the receiver back down she said, barely looking at him, 'Tour guide's downstairs, we need to go.'

'Teresa-'

'Come on, Jane. This was your idea.'

* * *

When faced with a close up view of the falls Lisbon gasped in amazement. 'They're stupendous,' she grinned, wide eyed.

Although still a little annoyed he'd missed another chance to kiss her back in the room he grinned back. Seeing Lisbon's eyes light up in childish wonder didn't happen very often, well not without a pony to hand. He almost shouted over the thunderous cascade. 'Yes, they are. Not often a natural wonder lives up to its name.'

The guide led them and a small group of others to an elevator, Jane having changed the tour from a boat ride to a more adrenalin packed encounter he thought she'd enjoy more that promised they'd stand just a few steps from the falls. As they piled into the small space with the others taking the trip Jane took Lisbon's hand and squeezed it, his thumb brushing over her fingers. He felt the wedding band there and kissed the side of her head impulsively. She glanced up at him, adrenalin beginning to rush through her veins as they descended 175 feet down to Niagara Gorge. In the cramp enclosure she turned into his arms and took his other hand, facing him as another passenger bumped into her as the elevator made its progress down, jostling as it made its descent. He removed his hands from hers so he could place them on her waist to steady her, his grip tighter than was strictly necessary. She leaned into him further and placed her head on his chest as he drew her more into his arms until his hands joined around her back, holding her in place. Neither spoke as he kissed the top of her head. Lisbon had never been someone who needed looking after or wanted anyone's protection but as she stood in this lift and felt his arms encase her frame she felt just that. Protected and safe. But more than that. She felt loved.

She wrapped her arms around him and he pulled her closer still in return, planting another kiss to the top of her head. She knew this wasn't part of the act, knew this was for real and she swallowed, both delighted and terrified by that revelation. Suddenly she didn't want to be in this space. She wanted to be back in their room, to finish what was about to happen there before the telephone rang.

The elevator came to a bumpy halt and they parted reluctantly as the guide led them to the next portion of the excursion. Wooden walkways stood before them all along the Niagara River, the noise of the falls now deafening in their ears, making speech almost impossible. Following the railings they got increasingly closer to the falls themselves, their new raincoats sheltering them from the worst of the spray. They put their hoods up, tying them tightly over their heads as they continued towards the Hurricane Deck, the closest point they could walk and only a few feet from the torrents of water. They grinned at each other again, water soaking them both but enjoying the spectacle in front of them. The gusts of wind gave Jane another excuse to put his arms around her as she stumbled slightly, from behind this time as she stood amazed at the view she was experiencing. She placed her hands on his as they splayed across her middle and he memorised this moment in its entirety as he closed his eyes and raised his face to the deluge. A sudden blast of wind dragged his hood off his head and he took an intake of breath as the water soaked his hair. Lisbon turned and began to laugh as he became more drenched as the breeze continued to batter him in the face, making him unable to retie his hood. Seeing her amusement and her relative dryness compared to himself he stopped attempting to fasten his hood and pulled hers down instead, her mouth turning into an O shape as the water cascaded over her head. Its coldness made her catch her breath, simultaneously also catching the insult that was about to come out of her mouth. Jane grinned wider still, yanking the hair plastered to his brow back with his hand. 'It's invigorating, isn't it!' he yelled over the noise behind them as he moved back a little from the worst of the barrage.

'Yeah?' she shouted back.

Suddenly she'd changed positions and pushed him back towards the fence, tilting his head forward so the water would drench him more. She pinned his arm across his back and pressed her leg in between his to hold him in place. She felt him struggle and after a few seconds she released him, moving far enough way to get out of the path of the torrent.

When he turned around he could barely breathe and stumbled towards her, bending over and putting a hand up, shaking his head as he panted wildly, his curls dripping onto the wooden deck. Lisbon doubled over, laughing at how his childish prank had spectacularly backfired on him, forgetting all about the freezing water she'd had to endure in the process. A few moments later Jane grinned at her, his laughter filling the air as he straightened up. He took a deep breath and walked towards her as she stood with her back to the dry side of the fence, an unapologetic and defiant expression on her face. 'Invigorating enough for you?' she smiled, beginning to laugh again.

The smile dropped from both their lips as he came closer, his eyes predatory and dark with intensity. For a split second she wondered if he was going to play another prank on her but then she saw the look she'd seen back in the hotel room, fire in his eyes of a different sort. He took the last step between them and took her face in his hands, brushing her wet cheeks with his thumbs, circling her face with his eyes for a moment. She licked her lips and his eyes went to them immediately, inciting the same reaction from his own. He lowered his face towards her and captured her lips in a light kiss, tentative at first. Then he felt her respond to him and he pressed harder, moving his hands from her face to around her back to draw her closer. He darted his tongue out, her lips tasting soft and warm against the coldness of her face. She parted her mouth willingly and he took advantage at once, the inside of her mouth like a warm fire in a cold room. She kissed him back, deepening the kiss again, her fingers knotted at the front of his raincoat, removing any distance between them. He put more passion into the kiss, years of denying himself from this pleasure making it desperate and hungry. He felt the same in return as she moaned into his mouth. He shivered at the sound, erotic and sensual to his ears. She misinterpreted his reaction and drew back a little. 'Cold?' she asked, beginning to shiver herself now as her clothes became heavy on her.

He shook his head and pecked her lips. 'Hot as hell,' he whispered in her ear, his voice low and seductive. He brought his face back to hers. 'But I think we better get back to the hotel to get out of these wet clothes.'

'Yeah,' she smiled, biting her lip. 'We don't want to catch cold. We should get these clothes off as soon as possible.'

'Lead the way,' he smiled, putting his arm around her shoulder.

* * *

They were separated in the elevator back up by another couple who were staying at the same hotel. Gina and Mike Summers were in their mid fifties and Gina questioned Lisbon as her husband stood beside Jane, only nodding every now and then. Gina was obviously the talker in the relationship. She had dyed red hair that matched perfectly with her bright red lipstick.

'Are you on your honeymoon?' the chatty redhead asked Lisbon.

'Um...yeah,' she smiled, blushing as Jane grinned at her. She couldn't take her eyes off his lips after their kiss and the cocky son of a bitch knew it.

'Us too!' Gina replied, pointing between her husband and herself. At Lisbon's confused expression Gina laughed raucously, gaining a few looks from the fellow passengers. 'Well, actually it's our third honeymoon, isn't it Mike?'

Before Mike had a chance to respond Gina continued, 'Third time's a charm as they say. You seem like such a cute couple, how long have you been together?'

Lisbon looked at Jane for an answer and he shrugged slightly, making no effort to join in the conversation. 'Um...not that long,' she said. _About ten minutes_ was what her brain added.

Gina took Mike's arm. 'We knew it. We saw you down on the deck. First throes of passion.' She shoved Lisbon's elbow with her free one. Barely moving her lips she added, 'Phew, I tell you honey, keep hold of that one. He's delicious and he's crazy about you if that kiss was anything to go by.'

Lisbon laughed nervously. 'Oh I don't know about that, most of the time he's just plain crazy.'

'But delicious with it,' Jane butted in. His eyes flicked to her lips and her blood pressure went up a notch in return. Damn that man for getting her hot and bothered when they could do nothing about it.

* * *

As they were dropped back at their hotel Gina and Mike wouldn't take no for an answer and they agreed to meet them for dinner the following night. Jane's intentions were on not moving too far from their hotel suite for the next few hours, hoping he could talk her into room service for dinner after they'd called in to check on Wylie. Parted from the other couple finally Jane smiled at her wickedly, making his intentions clear. She blushed then noticed people were watching them cross the reception area. 'What are people looking at?' she whispered.

'Well we look like two people who have just escaped a drowning,' he replied, laughing.

She caught sight of herself in a mirror and almost stopped in shock. Between the ghastly yellow jacket, her jeans sticking to her legs, her hair curled and dripping on the carpet and her mascara smudged under her eyes she hardly recognised herself. 'Oh god, look at the state of me,' she said, beginning to take off the offending jacket.

'I wouldn't do that,' he replied, shaking his head as she was about to pull down the zipper. He smiled mischievously. 'At least not yet unless you want to start a wet T shirt contest right here in the lobby.'

She pulled the zipper back up immediately. 'I thought these jackets were supposed to be waterproof!'

'Waterproof, not floodproof, Lisbon,' he said, pushing the elevator button. He glanced sideways at her. 'But I could be wrong. I'll be happy to check for you if the elevator's relatively empty.'

'It might just be your lucky day,' she smiled.

'It already is,' he whispered in her ear, kissing the skin behind it tenderly just as the door opened.

Both grinning with anticipation their faces dropped when Wylie greeted them, dressed in a bellboy uniform. He grinned back at them. 'Going up?!' He added, in a whisper, 'Hey, Jane.'

They got in and once the three of them were alone Lisbon asked, 'Another disguise? Already?'

Wylie nodded, 'Yeah, Abbott thought it'd be a good idea to have someone on the inside of the staff-'

'Good idea,' Lisbon said, reproaching herself for not suggesting that herself. She had been so wrapped up in this 'fake' marriage Jane hadn't been the only one not focusing on what they were supposed to be doing.

'Ah,' Wylie chipped in as he took in their appearance, 'What happened to you two by the way?'

'We went to see the falls. Then we got distracted,' Lisbon said, glancing at Jane, 'Weren't looking where we should have been. Walked too close to the edge.'

'Oh!' Wylie nodded, 'Okay. By the way Cho and Fischer are on their way up to help with surveillance now I'll be doing this gig, part time at least.'

'Great,' Jane sighed. Lisbon's code couldn't have been clearer. She was backing away from him quickly, using work as an excuse. Backing away from _them_.

As they reached their floor they exited quietly, Lisbon walking faster to put the keycard in the door.

'Lisbon-' Jane began as they entered the room.

'What the hell are we doing, Jane?' she interrupted. 'We're supposed to be working. Not getting sucked into this whole...romantic honeymoon thing.'

'You know that's not what happened between us, Teresa. You felt it back there just as much as I did.'

She shook her head. 'No. I...I don't know.'

'Now that reality has started to sink in that we might actually move our relationship forward you're afraid. You don't think I am? I'm terrified of letting someone in again.'

Her eyes went to his wedding band, unsure once more if he was truly over his wife and ready for a relationship with her. Maybe this romantic setting had affected him too, made him believe he had feelings for her when he didn't.

She pulled her ring off her finger and sat it on the table. Seeing Jane's surprise she said, 'I don't need to wear this unless we're leaving the room. I'm going to take a shower and get changed. Once you have then we'll start making a list of viable suspects from the people we've met so far and what your thoughts on them are as possible killers.'

'You know what you're doing, don't you?' he replied, taking off his raincoat and then his sodden vest. 'You're running away-'

'Well you're hardly one to talk where that's concerned, are you?' she barked, shrugging off her own mac.

As he was about to respond his eyes were drawn to her chest, her white T shirt soaked through, her nipples protruding due to coldness through her bra. He glanced back up at her face, saw she was looking at him the same way as his shirt stuck to him, desire and fear and a touch of anger. He took two large steps towards her and pressed his lips firmly to hers. After a moment she melted into it. Reciprocated. Then she pushed him away, shaking her head. 'No. We can't, Jane.'

'Why not?' he whispered, wrapping his arms around her and trailing open mouthed kisses down her neck.

'Because we don't know if it's real,' she replied, pulling away entirely and almost running into the bathroom, locking the door behind her.

* * *

 **A/N: While I have visited Niagara Falls a couple of times I've never actually been on the excursion detailed here so please forgive any inconsistencies for any of you that noticed them.  
**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: I hope you enjoy this chapter. Buckle up. It's an extended one. Happy reading. Up next is Brooklyn79 with your new update! Consulting Patrick Jane**

* * *

Chapter 5 - Uncertainty

She stuck her head under the warm falling water and sighed. Placing both hands up to the cool shower tiles in front of her, she leaned her forehead against them and let the water cascade down her back, dripping off her in short streams. It reminded her of the Falls. Not the particular coldness of them, as this water was heated, and less engorged. Rather, how she had pushed him underneath them. His laugh. His eyes darkening in deep desire. His lips as they came down on hers, wet and slippery as she sampled the water from him. She closed her eyes as she recalled the sensation of his rough hands on her slim waist, pulling her gently to him as if the world was going to end and he had only that one moment to touch her; to feel how her body felt against his. Even the plastic rain slickers rubbing between their bodies was in her memory. The muscles of his chest through his soaked shirt was exceptionally vivid. The way his abdominal muscles seemed to soak right through his vest. She knew there was something good about them, after all.

She conveyed a deep breath and opened her eyes, permitting herself to come back to reality. She did not move from the position she was in, however. Alternatively, she opted to lift her head slightly, just enough to remove one hand from the cool, slippery tile. She brought her fingers up to her lips and felt them. Patrick Jane had just kissed her! The sensation was still on her lips and tongue. She could taste the water, feel the hunger, see the way his pupils dilated as he came closer to her at the Falls. She wanted it to be real so badly. But Patrick Jane was so adept at pretending. How could she possibly know what was real with him and what was merely fabricated for effect? What worried her, too, was how much she had yielded to him. Not as an undercover officer, simply as herself. The kiss she had given him was not an act on her character. It was a discernible change from her prudishness in the finer touches and kisses that they had done for show. This was much harder. Deeper. Much more intense than the pecks that came before. It was…

'Teresa?' Jane called, tapping on the bathroom door lightly with his knuckles. 'I've ordered us some lunch while we go over the files.'

She raised herself from her thoughts abruptly, pulling the shower curtain aside so her head stuck out. She reached down to twist off the water faucet before she turned back to the closed door.

'Alright,' she told him. 'I'll be out in a minute.' She waited for his response, but none came. She could pick up his shadow still standing there from underneath the door. 'Jane?'

'I'm still here,' he called back softly. 'I, uh…' he trailed off, clearing his throat before starting again. 'I am sorry for kissing you. It was… I was… I didn't intend to confuse you.'

She was silent for a moment, thinking. Then, 'I actually don't want to discuss this with you right now.' She heard him chuckle. It was low and brief. 'What the hell is so funny, Jane?'

'That was our first little argument as a married couple,' he told her, laughing again. 'And it's over us kissing. You have to admit it's funny. That is very humorous!'

'Ha-ha!' Lisbon called back, irritated. 'Glad you found it entertaining! You know that pole I said about earlier? I just might make it my foot! I have two of them with me!'

She watched as his feet left the crack at the bottom of the door, his laughter fading as he walked away. It was a few minutes before she heard him talking and then another laugh. She was glad he was finding this all so amusing. He had accused her of running away! How absolutely ridiculous. She was running from nothing… Right? But Jane had seen something between them. He had as much as said so. Was she really the one running away from something? Damn that smug bastard and the things he does to her! The years of manipulation had eaten away at any sure things she had thought about him. It had corrupted her ability to see what was a ploy and what was real. Though his face and kiss had seared a hole through her chest like burning fire, there was doubt there to douse it out and turn it to ash.

She began to shudder as she stood there. She hadn't even realized she still standing in the shower, the water long since receding down the drain. She sighed, reached for a towel and dried herself off quickly. It was as she was drying off her legs that she looked around and realized she had forgotten her clothing. She had set her case on the bench across from the bathroom after showering when they first got to the room, and hadn't lugged it with her this time. She was too upset to notice. The sopping wet shirt, bra, panties, and jeans were strewn along the floor in front of her. She kicked them aside, wrapped herself in the towel and opened the bathroom door.

'Jane, I for-' she started to say before she saw the busboy from room service, standing there with the cart in the center of the room. 'Oh!' she exclaimed, tightening the towel around her slender body. 'I'm sorry! I didn't realize…'

The busboy smiled as he took her in, the towel around her, showing off her curves and her hair damp, falling haphazardly over her shoulders. He was too busy looking at her that he missed opening the plate covers, and instead stuck his hand in the small vase in the center that held three roses, drenching his fingers in its water.

'Oh,' he said, looking back at the cart and shaking his fingers. 'Uh. Sorry.'

Lisbon's eyes flickered to Jane, who did not appear too pleased at the busboy. His eyes met hers and he smiled. He walked past the busboy and reached out for her waist, pulling her to him, his one hand on the knot of the towel and the other in her hair.

'This is the second time you have scared our server, Teresa,' he said softly. 'I do believe this time, it is a happy fright for the young man.' He kissed her forehead and turned to him. 'That will be all, Chavez,' he told the waiter. 'No tip this time. I think your dilated eyes and blank, happy stare at my beautiful wife are payment enough.'

'Yes,' Chavez said. 'Right. Sorry. Sorry, ma'am,' he said to Lisbon, walking around them and letting himself out but not before he sneaked a peek at Lisbon from behind.

'Wylie stopped by to give us some reports while you were in the bathroom. Good thing you didn't step out then. You may have killed him,' Jane smirked. 'I told him we have plans and won't get around to seeing him today. Tomorrow, perhaps.'

'You could have forewarned me he was here!' Lisbon told him, looking up at him. She felt his fingers wriggle the knot on her towel and watched as his eyebrow arched. 'What are you doing?'

'Well,' he told her. 'I was making sure the towel stayed on for our busboy friend,' he explained. 'Now, though, I don't really need to.' He let go of the knot and the towel started to unravel from around her body. 'Oops.'

She scrambled to take hold of the towel. She caught it just as it was about to split and fall to the floor. She re-twisted the knot and tucked it back. She shook her head at him, watching as a mischievous smile fell across his face. She groaned and twisted away from him, irritated that he was being so childish with her. She walked to her suitcase and picked out her articles of clothing before turning on her heel and walking back into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.

An hour and Jane's shower later, they were working on the case once again. The unspoken conversation of what happened earlier in the day permeated between them as they sat on the couch, looking through the case files and the list of suspects they had acquired since their arrival at the hotel. Admittedly, it was tough to focus on such things when the kisses they shared earlier were on both their minds. Lisbon was thinking that she went a step too far, not knowing if Jane, the greatest actor not on TV, was being real in those kisses or in his behavior. The deep, dark desire in his eyes had said it was, but her heart and head knew that he could manipulate his emotions. He'd done it to her many, many times. His childish behavior with the towel was another matter altogether. She didn't doubt he would have loved to have seen that towel drop, but any man with a working male anatomy would.

'We never did get to talk to that kid,' Lisbon said, thumbing through reports that Wylie had given them earlier. 'What was his name? Chives?'

'Chavez,' he corrected, putting a forkful of Lemon Pepper Salmon in his mouth. 'And I had a chat with him while you were in the bathroom.'

'And?' she demanded, turning her head toward him. 'Anything?'

He finished his bite of food and set his fork back down on the plate. 'He has worked here long enough to commit the murders. Nine years. He did tell me something interesting, though, besides that.' He indicated to her untouched plate of food. 'Which I will tell you when you eat something, Teresa.'

'Yes, dad,' she responded, rolling her eyes. She sighed and put the reports down on the table, reaching to take a scoop of her scallops. She ate it and turned back to him. 'Now. What did you find out?'

'Well,' he sat back in the cushions of the couch and put a hand through his damp curls. 'Seems that our check-in receptionist was engaged to be married to one of the wait staff. Dishwasher. Didn't pan out. No pun intended.'

Lisbon picked up the reports and sat back next to him against the cushions, her eyebrow curved. 'Oh. Really? How very interesting. How long ago was that?'

Jane turned to her and shrugged. 'I was just about to ask him when you decided to perform a fashion show with your towel. The poor kid got all flustered and happy and lost the discussion.' He licked his lips. 'Can't say I fault him, but poor timing on your part, Teresa.' He smiled at her.

She smiled in response, despite herself. 'Shut up.'

'We should probably confront the elephant in the room, Teresa,' he said, the grin fading. 'Why would say you don't know if it's real?'

'I genuinely don't want to talk about this, Jane,' she told him. 'We need to actually do some work. Abbott will be on our asses.'

'So, you rather go about everything as if we didn't just kiss earlier? That we didn't feel something between us?' He sighed. 'Okay.'

She looked pointedly at him. 'When you say 'okay', you actually don't mean it. What are you planning, Jane?'

'I am planning on eating the remainder of my delightful fish, watch you be surly with me the rest of the night, and finally sleep on this couch in which there is a spring that digs my ass when I lie on my back,' he told her. 'But I just thought maybe you'd like to address the fact that the kiss was not exactly a gentle peck. It wasn't even done at a time when newlyweds should interact that way. But, well, you just looked so good wet, and I took my chance and seized it.' He took the reports from her hands and scanned them. 'But you don't want to confront it, so what is there to say? By the way, did you notice in these pictures, there are flower petals scattered about the scene of the murders?' He pointed to little dots on the photographs of several murder scenes. 'Calling card.'

She took the photographs from him and looked for herself. Sure enough, there were petals distributed around each scene. It wasn't enough to raise suspicion to investigators, but to Jane, she knew it signified what he said it did.

'A lead,' said Lisbon softly. 'Flower petals! Seems like maybe… Daisies?'

'Astute, Lisbon,' he told her. 'Very astute.'

'Smart-ass,' she remarked.

'It has to be someone who works here," Jane added. "In each of the cases, the door was securely locked. So whoever committed said murders either had a key or acquired one to gain entry.'

'Couldn't the couple have just invited them in? Maybe a room service attendant... Oh...'

'There you are. So, the young man who hoped you dropped your towel earlier is a good suspect. If we were making love, Teresa, wouldn't you get hungry after?' He raised his eyebrows at her. 'Good chance we'd order room service. If this is a revenge killing, it'll be the trigger, no doubt. Seeing two glowing people after the throes of passion wanting eggs and tea...' He sighed as if thinking of something he desperately wanted. 'That also keeps Roger, the busboy, a suspect. Access and a master key. Remember, he said all employees have them.'

'Perceptive.' She rolled her eyes at the tea and eggs part. 'Wouldn't the surveillance cameras pick up who entered their rooms when the murders occurred?' she asked.

'It's a very old hotel, Teresa. Not up to date with the times on the technological front. Besides, I looked for any when we arrived. There were none. I'm sure Wylie wouldn't be here if there were. He'd just hack in, or whatever the term for snooping is.'

'Very astute, Jane,' she praised with a smile.

'Thank you.' He smiled. 'Now, if you'll excuse me, I have somewhere to be,' he stated, raising himself up and picking up his plate of food. He walked over to the cart and deposited it.

'Where are you going?' Lisbon asked suspiciously.

'You'll see!' He winked at her and paced toward the door. 'I will be back. If you discover anything new, you'll let me know.' With that, he opened the door and exited, closing it securely behind him.

* * *

It was several hours after that Jane came back into the room. He set the bag down on the floor near the bed. His gaze strayed over to the couch, where Teresa was snuggled up, sleeping. Her hands were under her head as she lay there, peacefully in slumber. He smiled down at her as he walked over and stood in front of her. She looked beautiful, even asleep. Her hair fanned out against her fair skin, and her mouth moved a little as she dreamed. He had the impulse to kiss her again, but he refrained. Instead, he reached down and hoisted her into his arms, carefully walking with her over to the bed and laying her down, pushing her gently on her side. He walked back over to the couch and pulled the blanket off the back, bringing it over to drape around her.

Once she was tucked in, he took the item from the bag and draped it where the blanket had been a moment before on the back of the couch. He brought out another box and sat it next to the wedding ring she took off.

He drew off his jacket once everything was set out, throwing it on the couch and sitting down to take his shoes and socks off. Reclining back, he felt the familiar jab in the ass. He sighed and shifted, making the lumpy couch squeak as he did so. He couldn't get comfortable on his side, so he reached for his suit jacket and balled it up, laying it under his butt to stifle the jab of the loose spring. That position pulled his spine out of alignment. He groaned quietly.

'If that thing is poking you,' she called out very softly, 'you can always come up here,' she volunteered. 'It's a king-size bed, Jane. We could fit the whole hotel on this damn thing.' She yawned.

He reared himself on his elbows and looked over at her. She hadn't moved from the position he rolled her in earlier. He hesitated, watching for any movement from her. There were none. 'I don't want to intrude,' he eventually replied.

'Bring your ass _up_ here,' she answered. 'I don't want to have to hear that stupid squeaky couch all night.'

She finally turned to him, elevating her head and jabbing a thumb behind her. 'We are on our honeymoon, dear,' she added. 'We need to break in this big, beautiful bed.' She used his words their first day here against him with a modest hint of amusement.

He smiled at that and raised himself, walking over to the large, unyielding bed and crawling onto it, extending his legs out as his head hit the extra pillow. He scooted himself closer to her.

'Where did you go?' she asked sleepily, turning herself ever so slightly. 'I must have dozed off right after you left.'

'I will tell you later,' he told her. 'Did I awaken you when I came in?'

'No,' she told him. 'You moving on that couch did. We're going to have a busy day tomorrow. That couple just wouldn't accept no for dinner,' Lisbon said. 'Nice people. A bit pushy.'

'Yeah,' he concurred. 'They saw us kissing. I guess our undercover skills are becoming more proficient. Yours, I mean. Mine were already quite excellent. I mean since you clearly don't believe I actually meant that kiss…'

'Jane…' Lisbon warned.

'I know. I know.' He reached out a hand to her shoulder and pulled, making her lie flat on her back so he could look into her face. 'But at least let me tell you this: I regret running away from you every single day I look at you, Teresa. I detest myself for it. I don't want you to do the same. Running away from everything you feel inside will only make you hate yourself in the end. Regret is like a disease, Teresa. It eats at you, and when you try to obtain a cure, there is none.'

'Good night, Jane,' she stated, turning her back over and pulling the blanket closer to her body. 'See you in the morning.'

'Good night, Teresa,' he whispered. 'Sleep well.'

* * *

She felt his warmth against her backside when she opened her eyes to the dusty rays of the sunlight falling over the Falls in the distance, building brilliant filters of light across the room. She also felt an arm snaked around her, encircling her close. She could feel Jane's breathing light and shallow against her neck. She shifted, hoping that it would stir him. He merely sighed and pressed himself harder into her.

Though she kind of liked the heat from his body, she could feel a small poke near her back. She wasn't that stupid. She knew a bodily function when she felt one. She tried again to move away, but his arm around her was fastened steadfastly. She moved her leg forward, and with one swift kick of her heel behind her, she connected with his knee cap.

'Ouch!' Jane cried out, letting her go and lifting himself to a sitting position, rubbing his knee. 'Jeez, Teresa!'

She sat herself up and tipped her back against the hard headboard. 'You were spooning me. Plus, you are happy to see me, apparently.'

He looked at her bewilderingly. 'Huh?'

Her eyes flickered down to his crotch, her gaze rising back up once he followed her eyes. 'I presume you want to take care of that...'

He hopped quickly off the bed, clearing his throat before excusing himself to the bathroom. She chortled at his embarrassment, deciding that it was payback for the towel stunt earlier. She stretched her arms and raised herself from the bed. She walked over to the windows, watching the Falls dip and curl, the vapor rising to the sky. She sighed at the beautiful sight and turned to put her shoes on. She had fallen asleep wearing her clothing and didn't feel they were dirty enough to change. That is when she noticed the red, lace dress draped over the couch. She walked over and drifted her fingers over the soft material of the dress. The satin lace made up the bodice, and the dress was quite brusque. She lifted the dress on its hanger and smiled.

'Do you like it?' he asked from behind her. 'It's Italian. The lady assured me it is trendy. I believe she used the term 'fashion forward'.'

Lisbon turned around and held out the dress. 'It's beautiful, Jane. But I can't take this! It's too nice!' She attempted to give it back to him.

'Nonsense, Teresa. It's my gift to you. You can wear it this evening when we join the Summers,' he explained. 'I also picked up something else.'

She watched as he walked over to the dresser and picked up the box he placed there the night before. Closing the gap between them, he held out the box and opened the lid. She peered inside and gasped. There, in black satin, sat a necklace. This necklace matched the ring she had worn from evidence, that now resided on the dresser. In fact, it was an exact replica.

'Do you like it? I went to four jewellery stores before I found a match.' He smiled widely at the shocked expression on her face.

'Jane! It's... It's beautiful,' she told him breathlessly. 'It's too much!' she reiterated.

He shook his head at her as she reached out to touch the large diamond. 'Like the dress, you can and will accept it. I noticed you staring at the ring, so I guessed you'd enjoy this.'

'It's very lovely, Jane. Thank you.'

Their eyes met, flashing specks of something behind their irises. Jane reached out almost automatically and gently stroked the flesh on the side of her neck. She gasped at the gooseflesh he was producing.

'It'll look good on you, Teresa. Beautiful skin against silver. Lovely.'

She was rendered speechless by both his gifts and his increasingly close face to hers. He reached over and whispered in her ear, dropping his hand from her neck. 'I am attempting to show you exactly how serious I am in this. You won't believe me, so at least let me try proving it,' Jane stated. 'No pressure.' He set the lid on the box and sat it down. 'I believe we have breakfast to catch.'

'Breakfast,' she repeated, carefully sitting the dress back down. 'Right.' She was still dazed by his generous gifts and his insistence that he'd prove his sincerity to her. 'Okay.'

* * *

The day slipped away slowly, with Jane and Lisbon taking in the gardens outside the hotel, something Jane said was to match the flowers they saw with that of the various varieties that grew out back of the grounds. There were plenty of blossoms, but none that they could match to the ones in the photos. He managed to pluck a white orchid and hand it to her before taking her hand in his and leading her back indoors.

Jane led her to the small, compact area where they were serving lunch. They served themselves at the buffet, talking idly about the trip to the Falls yesterday. Jane didn't bring the kiss back up, instead opting for touching her lazily, and feeding her a strawberry from his salad. He didn't want to push too hard right now. He just wanted to make her doubt the words she'd articulated earlier. That she'd know it was real.

Next, after their meal, they visited Wylie's room, bringing him up to speed on their progress and Jane's discovery about the petals. When Jane informed him of their dinner plans with the Summers, he assured them he'd be standing by and also informed them that Cho and Fischer would be arriving sometime in the morning. Though it was much to Jane's chagrin, he smiled at the Agent.

Once Wylie was briefed, they made their way back to their room to prepare for the dinner. Lisbon slipped the red laced dress onto her slim body, looking at herself in the mirror. It looked stunning on her if she did say so herself. The soft material hugged her curves, and the dress itself came down to her mid-thigh. The lace beading was a compliment to her chestnut hair.

'Teresa?' Jane asked through the bathroom door. 'Are you ready? They said five, and you know how busy that place gets.'

'Yeah,' she answered, turning and opening the door. She stopped dead at the sight of him.

He grinned sheepishly at her and pulled on his waistcoat. 'I thought you'd enjoy seeing a newer version of my outfit,' he replied. 'I bought it when I got your dress. I figured if I am going to have a ravishingly beautiful creature on my arm, I may as well give her something pleasing to look at, too, besides my old, tired three-pieces from ten years ago.'

She bit her lip and reached out a hand, taking her fingers upon his buttons. She tilted her head as she followed the silver pinstriped pattern of them. Her eyes flew up to the white shirt underneath. Then followed the length of his torso, to his shoulders and down to the sleeves. Then travelled further to his matching slacks. Only his shoes were recycled. Everything else was a newer version of the suits she had come to know and love.

Her eyes found his once again. 'I can't say I am disappointed to see you in a new suit,' she told him. 'It's like the old Jane in a new skin.'

His eyes raked over her, finding every single highlighted curve in that dress. 'The shop lady is my new best friend,' he commented. 'You look amazingly beautiful, Teresa.' His eyes found hers and he felt his pulse quicken as his hands found her hips. His head lowered toward hers, her fingers still firmly on his waistcoat. 'Teresa,' he whispered.

She watched his lips near hers, and she tilted back her head out of his reach. She cleared her throat and shook her head slightly. 'We better go. We don't want to be late.' She let go of his vest and stepped around him, forcing him to drop his hands from her waist.

'God, I hate the Summers,' Jane groaned under his breath. 'So much.' He paused. 'Teresa, wait!' He walked over to the dresser and grabbed the box with the necklace in it. 'Come here, please.'

She did so, turning around when he motioned for her to. He took the necklace out of the box, setting the box down before gently encircling her neck with the necklace, closing the clasp. 'There,' he said, turning her around. 'It looks stunning on you.'

She smiled and put a hand up to touch the diamond. 'Thank you, Jane.'

'There is something else.'

'What?'

He reached over and grabbed her ring off the dresser, picking her hand up off her necklace and sliding it back onto her ring finger. 'Please never take this off. I don't want anyone else to see you are available. I want people to think you are mine, even if you don't want to be mine.'

She hesitated, wanting to correct him; to tell him she wanted to be his but didn't trust herself to fall hard without him helping her up and leaving her to wonder what was pretend and what was reality. Instead, she remained silent. Nodded her head. Finally, 'Okay.'

It was ten minutes later that they walked into the busy lounge, looking around for their new acquaintances, Gina and Mike Summers. They saw them at a booth near the rear of the lounge. Mike was waving them enthusiastically over, while Gina stood up and walked over to Lisbon, hugging her close. She was dressed in a purple maxi dress, her hair done up in a neat ponytail.

'Oh, honey!' she exclaimed, taking in her profile. 'You look like a model! And, you,' she looked at Jane. 'You look like a modern day Sherlock Holmes!' She turned to her husband. 'Don't they, Mike?'

'Sure do, sweetheart!' he said, rising to catch Jane's hand. 'Glad you could join us for dinner!'

They sat across from the couple in the booth and took up to looking at their menu. When the waiter came to take their drink orders and their dinner, Mike and Gina smiled at them.

'So,' Gina started. 'You mentioned before you haven't been together long. Was it a sudden elopement?'

'You could say that,' Lisbon answered, sneaking a look at Jane. 'Very quick.'

Gina smiled and prodded her husband in his ribs. 'Looks like us when we got married, don't it, Mike?'

Her husband rubbed his ribs and smiled back at his wife before setting his gaze toward Jane and Lisbon. 'They do. Say,' he said, 'how did you all meet?' He frowned. 'Sorry. Just, we are curious! It's nice to meet a couple so much in love like we are.' Gina kissed him on the cheek for that.

'We-' Lisbon started to say before Jane interjected.

'She seduced me,' he told them, looking over at Lisbon and taking her hand in his. 'From the moment I stepped out of that elevator at our place of employment. She was beautiful and radiant,' he said, not wavering from her curious gaze. 'There was something about her that drew me to her. She was caring and kind. Very much a kindred soul.' He reached over to kiss her earlobe. 'She put me back together when the glue from my past wouldn't hold.'

'Aw!' Gina squealed happily. 'I could tell there was something special about you two! I told Mike, I said 'those two young people are so in love. Look at the way he looks at her'! I am always right! Have you two been together ever since?' Gina asked, her bubbly persona in full force.

'He left for two years,' Lisbon blurted out. 'We, uh… There were some things he had to work out,' she explained, looking at Jane sidelong before turning back to the couple. 'He recently came back in my life and here we are.'

'I missed you every day,' he told her, ignoring the couple across from them. 'And I did come back, Teresa. And I came back for you. You know that.'

' _Do I_?' she asked, turning to him now. 'You sure never told me that. You sent me letters, Ja...Patrick. Made me think of you every day! But you have never once told me you were sorry, and that you came back for me. You came back because-' She cut herself off, afraid she'd blow their cover. 'You came back because it was convenient for you.'

'I did no such thing,' Jane told her.

He did not get the chance to argue the point because their drinks and food had arrived. Gina and Mike looked at them, taking a careful sip of their wine before deciding to speak again.

'Mike and I have had moments like that, Patrick. But, Teresa, dear, the fact he came back at all and you guys are here is a miracle all in itself. He obviously loves you, honey! You are happy! You gotta let it go. Nobody wants to be reminded of the past.' She smiled at them and brought the wine glass back up to her lips.

'She's right, my love,' Jane said, reaching over to take hold of Lisbon's chin. 'I _do_ love you. And I am very, _very_ happy. What would make me happier is if you let me show you that love.' He glanced at the couple and smiled. 'I mean more than I already do. And you are the only reason I came back. I did run from you, Teresa,' he whispered. 'But I ran right back when I couldn't live without you any longer.'

'Mike! Why can't you be that romantic?' Gina said, hitting her husband. 'They are so adorable.'

'Maybe because you keep hitting me, Gina. I am afraid you'll break a rib!' he complained, rubbing his side.

Jane and Lisbon were not paying attention. Instead, they were holding a conversation with their eyes. His was telling her that what he was saying was the truth, and hers was taking it in and trying to decide what to do with it. It wasn't until Gina cleared her throat that they broke their gaze and turned back to them.

'If you'll excuse me, I must use the restroom,' Jane told them, smiling as he stood. 'My wife would love to hear how you two met and how long you guys have been married.' He leaned over the seat and kissed her forehead. 'I'll be back, love.'

He heard Gina's loud voice telling the story of how they met as he made his way to the bathroom. He had to get his thoughts together. How could she think he came back just for convenience? Was this why she refused to acknowledge that his behavior was because he was, indeed, falling in love with her? Why she felt something toward him, too? He was still thinking of this when a hand on his shoulder scared him.

'Sorry!' Wylie said, moving in front of Jane dressed as a washroom attendant. 'I scoped out the waiter in the kitchen. So far, nothing. He's a bit gassy, but...'

'Chavez? You spoke to him?' Jane asked, turning to turn on the faucet.

'Well, he came in here to use the bathroom,' Wylie said. 'I made an excuse that I had to get more paper towels, and I followed him into the kitchen. He's been there since.'

'Doesn't prove anything, Wylie. He's not going to leave his job to go kill people,' he told him, washing his hands. 'Anything useful?'

Wylie smiled. 'He told me that the dishwasher, Kevin, was angry at all the honeymooners. Called them pigs. I asked him if he was always mad, and he said only since breaking up with Lily, the check-in girl. He was upset in there,' he explained. 'Cursing and slamming pots.' Wylie handed Jane a paper towel and smiled. Jane dried his hands and frowned. 'Great. Another suspect.'

'I can run a background on this Kevin. Just need to tap into hotel payroll on my computer.' He screwed up his eyes. 'This Kevin is a real dick, it seems.'

Jane nodded his head. 'Good idea. Let me know what you find. I need to know how long he's worked here.' He turned from Wylie and headed toward the door. 'You look creepy waiting for men to come out of the toilet... Stick to your day job.' He laughed before exiting the bathroom.

When Jane had returned to the table, Gina was telling Lisbon about her their second trip here after renewing their vows. They fell into idle conversation, with Lisbon increasingly disengaged from it. Jane reached under the table and squeezed her knee, reassuring her. She gave him half a smile and joined in on the conversation.

The hours ticked by as they exchanged stories, Jane easily changing some details to make them believable. His hand never left her knee, and every so often, he'd kiss her cheek or lips. Every time, Lisbon would immediately turn from him, unwilling to meet his gaze. She'd laugh, and once or twice showed her wedding ring to Gina, but other than that, she seemed withdrawn.

They finished their dinners, downing another glass of wine. Lisbon, Jane noticed, was slightly intoxicated, her body swaying to some unknown music. Gina and Mike were in the same situation. Finally, Jane took his pretend wife by the hand and lifted them from the booth. 'My wife and I really should be going. It's late and we have plans tomorrow.'

Gina and Mike rose, nodding their heads. 'Of course! You two lovebirds go have fun. Before you leave, we should have dinner again.' Gina hugged Lisbon, and Mike shook Jane's hand. 'Nice meeting you.'

'You, too,' Jane said.

Jane tipped his head in acknowledgment and started to guide his partner to their room. She leaned heavily onto him as her glasses of wine started to inhibit her. She was unusually quiet as they ascended to their floor. Once they arrived inside their room, Lisbon turned to Jane immediately and laughed, putting her hand to her forehead and swaying her head from side-to-side.

'Are you alright, Teresa?' he asked in concern. 'Maybe you should sleep off the wine.'

She shook her head harder at him, lowering her hand from her forehead. 'I have things to say!'

So this was why she was strangely quiet. She was thinking of what he had said to her the entire time. He was startled when she stepped forward, landing inches from his face. He felt her fingers tangle in his vest as his arms raised in automatic response to grasp her upper arms.

'Teresa,' he whispered. 'I think maybe-'

She shook her head at him. 'Let me speak!'

When he remained silent, she went on. 'I let you _drag_ me out here, let you subject me to all these kisses and touches and pet names. I have done this for the most part without complaint. Even when I thought you were leading me on and I am not sure if you are sincere or not when you do things to me or tell me things.' She closed her eyes briefly, opening them when she had taken a deep breath. She looked into his bluish-green eyes and bit her lip. 'I don't have a clue if any of that is really because you feel something between us, or you are just putting on a performance.'

'I-'

'You wanted to confront the elephant in the room, so _let me finish_!' she told him. 'What I _do_ know is that I am confused and scared at how our relationship will change if we do what our hearts are suggesting. You are right, Jane. You said I was running away from anything I think I feel between us. God, I don't _want_ to! But you can see how the years of you constantly lying to me and putting on shows for me is leaking into us at this very moment!'

His hands slid up her arms, over her shoulders and up to cup her face in his hands. He laughed softly and shook his head at her. He tilted her face up to his and bent his lips to hers. Once. Twice. Three times, pecking them before adding a kiss to her forehead. He tilted her head back and looked directly into her dilated green eyes.

'I told you I was going to prove to you that I am being completely honest with you, Teresa,' he whispered. 'You obviously think that I am just doing this and that I am not over my wife. The truth is, Teresa, I am standing here with _you_ , right now, in a suit I bought just for _you_ , with my hands on _your_ face, wishing I could make love to _you_! We are behind closed doors, Teresa. Would I need to do this if I was just pretending? Would I need to do this if I wasn't trying to move on from my past?' He kissed her on the tip of her nose. 'If I never ask you for a favor again, my last one would be that you understand this _is_ real. I am standing here with you because _I love you_. I _want_ you, Teresa. Not as a pretend wife for a mission. I want you because I love the Teresa Lisbon who has been by my side for _years_. Believe that.'

'You do?' she asked quietly, her hands disengaging from his vest and snaking around his torso. 'You really do?'

'I do.'

He kissed her then. At first it was a light kiss, one that was soft and pliable, but as soon as she reacted and returned the kiss, his desire took over. The kiss became harder and unyielding, his lips crashing into hers as his hands fell to her waist, pushing her by the small of her back into him hard so that he could feel every curve of her body against him. Her breasts jammed against his tight chest as her hands flew up into his curls, pulling gently as her lips gasped for air when he let go to draw kisses down her throat column.

Her chest was exploding with fire, running course through her veins and to the pit of her stomach. She groaned unabashedly when she felt his lips connect with her soft, needful skin. She was yanking on his hair as the sensation of him hovering on her kicked in. The warmth of his body and the hardening of him on her leg only made her want him more. She could no longer stand it. She pulled his hair gently so that he was forced to lift his mouth from her neck. He chuckled as he dropped his mouth back down and nibbled at her jaw line.

'Jane?' she whispered in his ear as she felt the hot, searing, open-mouthed kisses trail up under her chin.

'Mm?'

'Take me to bed.'

'As you wish,' he told her. Suddenly, he was hot as hell. His body humming with desire, jolting his heart and making his blood pump furiously. 'I can never say no to my wife, can I?'

He groaned noisily against her flesh as his lips smashed into hers once more. Pushing her back gently by the waist, Jane started to lead her backward in the dark, bumping into things as he went. His mouth never left hers as they stumbled and staggered back, the kisses getting more and more fervent. Jane's hands dropped to the hem of her red dress as they neared the large bed, just a few feet in front of them. Her hands fell from his curls and began to unbutton his vest, clumsily scrambling in the dark for each button before she felt her knees falling out from under her and the mattress underneath her body. She scrambled up the bed, lifting her body to capture his mouth as he crawled over on top, reaching for her wrists and pinning them to the sides of her head as she dipped her head back down to the mattress, kissing her hard, his leg between her dress, which had ridden up to her navel, showing a pair of red matching panties underneath. His hot lips slid down her throat and around to her chin.

'Teresa,' he whispered between kisses. 'I want you to know this is very, _very_ real.'

'Shut up,' she told him. 'I know. Now _kiss_ me, Patrick.' And she lifted her head to kiss him softly. 'Make love to me, husband.'

He chuckled at that. He released her wrists and was just about to reach down between them and pull her dress from her body when they heard screaming coming from somewhere below them. Jane scrambled off the bed as the screaming got louder and louder. Lisbon lifted herself off the bed and pulled her dress down. She walked over to the dresser, opened the drawer, and took out her Glock service weapon.

At the same time, Jane's cell phone rang. 'It's Wylie,' he told her as he answered the phone. After a moment, Jane thanked him and hung up.

'Jane, we've got to do something!' Lisbon said, looking back at him.

'We can't, Teresa,' he said, shaking his head.

'Why?'

'Two reasons. One, we can't blow our cover. We have to remain just guests. If you go in there guns drawn, our cover is shot to hell,' he explained.

'And the second reason?' she replied, suddenly sober and very alert.

'Wylie is there. He was going back to his room when it happened.'

'What is it, Jane?' she asked impatiently.

'They're dead. Gina and Mike Summers are _dead_.'


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Thank you for all the reviews, favs & follows we all really appreciate you taking your time to to do that and read our story.**

 **How do I follow that last amazing chapter? With great difficulty! But hope you enjoy my small chapter nevertheless ;)**

 **The brilliant Mayzee up next :)**

 **And a big thank you to Thaysquint from Twitter for the awesome cover for our fic.**

 **\- Brooklyn 79**

* * *

Chapter 6 - Interruptus

Lisbon anxiously paced the floor of their honeymoon suite, pulling nervously at her cross that hung around her neck. Jane had left it over an hour ago to go find out more about what was happening on the Summers' murders. Unfortunately he had left his cell phone in the bedroom so calling him to find out where he was wasn't an option. To say she was becoming increasingly worried was an understatement.

What if Jane had discovered something untoward related to the murders or even worse what if he had come across the actual killer? It wouldn't have been the first time a deranged psychopath had kidnapped him or tried to murder him.

Pushing her worst fears aside and trying to stop her imagination from running wild she decided she needed to be proactive rather than sitting up alone waiting for someone to deliver her the news that something bad had happened. She quickly undressed out of the beautiful red dress Jane had brought her, putting on her my comfortable black jeans and her dark green blouse. Grabbing her glock from the bedside table she stuck in it in the back of her jeans, hiding it securely under her clothes.

She slowly opened the suite door peering down the long corridor and spotted several FBI agents coming and going from the crime scene. The local FBI office had obviously sent its own team along until Fischer and Cho arrived to head up the investigation.

A few other hotel guests were lingering around their room doors trying to get a look at what was going on but were ushered back into their rooms by two local law enforcement officers patrolling the hallway. The voice of one of officers boomed, announcing that all guests on the seventh floor were to remain in their rooms until told otherwise.

'That includes you little lady,' yelled the larger overweight officer of the two, nodding his head as she exited her suite.

Lisbon bit down on her tongue, annoyed by his patronising and misogynistic turn of phrase. What she really wanted to do was march straight up to his fat ass, flash her FBI badge and advise him firmly to never address her as 'little lady' again but she knew she would give away their cover if she did so so he had to just let the comment slide for now. Instead she smiled sweetly and made her way up to the crime scene tape to where the large ignorant puffball in the uniform was standing.

'Ma'am, please, you need to return to your room. This floor is now a serious crime scene.' In more of a hushed tone the large officer leaned in closer making Lisbon flinch back slightly as the smell of doughnuts and stale beer radiated off of his foul breath.

'What's going on?' Lisbon asked, pretending she was unaware of the events that had happened. She quickly peered over his shoulder hoping to spot Jane lingering around somewhere.

'I can't say what has been going on ma'am, you know, it's more than my job's worth to be honest but let's just say it's big, so much so the damn FEDS are in charge of this little fiasco, though why I don't know. FBI agents don't seem to know their asses from their elbows in my opinion. My great aunt Mildred could do a better job than these bunch of turnips in suits.'

Officer Lawrence chuckled under his breath at his own words as he hooked his thumb pointing to the FBI agents that stood a little further behind him. Realising that Lisbon wasn't laughing along with him he quickly put his law enforcement officer persona back in place. 'Hmm, uh, so I cannot allow anyone past here. Please return to your room ma'am.'

'I am looking for my husband. Patrick Jane, he left our room a little time ago and he hasn't returned.'

'Well I am sure he will return eventually Miss. Probably got lucky with a hot piece of ass he found in the hotel,' Officer Lawrence replied tilting his head and dismissing Lisbon completely to sexually leer at one of the young chambermaids who was just entering the elevator at the other end of the hall.

'We are on our honeymoon!' Lisbon snapped, shaking her head in disbelief at the officer's theory on where Jane was. 'I am worried. Have your seen him? He has blond curly hair, wearing a vest-'

'-And grey pinstriped suit with a smart mouth,' said another much younger and thinner local PD officer approaching the crime scene tape.

'Yes that's him. Have you seen him?' Lisbon asked, sighing with relief that someone had at least encountered him.

'Yeah he was here earlier, being a royal pain in the ass. Me and deputy Collins here had to threaten him with a night in the cells before he agreed to leave. He wanted to get inside the suite to have a look, kept saying he was a psychic who could help. We sent him on his way, didn't we Reg?'

'Sure did.'

'Do you know where he went?' Lisbon asked, becoming increasingly irritated by the Laurel and Hardy cop show she was now dealing with. No wonder these hotel murder cases hadn't been solved if this was the calibre of policemen left in charge.

'No ma'am. He just headed back down the hall, didn't see where he went after that.'

Lisbon reluctantly nodded thanks to the two officers.

'Hey! Are you really married to that mouthy psychic guy?' The thinner guy asked.

'Uh, yeah. Why?' Lisbon shifted a little nervously, wondering if they had somehow blown their own cover.

'Well, well, well. Wonders will never cease. A classy lady like you as his wife? Maybe I should have given the psychic fraud more credit.'

The thinner officer gave her a quick cheeky wink before returning back to guard the crime scene. Lisbon rolled her eyes but couldn't help shoot a small grin at the officers. It was an inappropriate comment, but a nice compliment nonetheless.

Making sure the two officers weren't watching her Lisbon quickly bypassed her room and made her way down the hallway. Reaching the elevators she eagerly pressed the call button, the doors immediately open allowing her to leave the seventh floor unnoticed.

Once inside the small cube she pulled out her cell phone and gave Wylie's number a call. It automatically connected to voicemail. Ending the call in frustration she angrily jabbed the button down to the lobby. Leaning her head back against the cool elevator mirror wall she replayed the heated moment on the bed with Jane only an hour ago. Letting out a little chuckle to herself and not quite believing how quickly things had developed between them. Yesterday she hadn't even been sure if all his little touches and kisses was part of the an act but after his honest and sincere declaration at dinner on how he felt about her she felt like she was suddenly floating on cloud nine and all her dreams were finally starting to come true.

Her head was still a little foggy from all the wine she had consumed at dinner but it was amazing how a gruesome double murder and a missing fake husband could quickly sober someone up.

As she exited the elevator into the lobby she noticed there were several law enforcement officers mulling about and several senior nervous looking hotel employees busily running around after them. Clearly the hotel was trying their best to disguise the unexpected murders on the seventh floor and continuing in vain with business as usual.

The sound of distant laughter floated through the large open lobby. Lisbon curiously followed the sound making her way over to the entrance of the hotel bar. As she scanned the room her eyes widened when she spotted Jane sat on a bar stool surrounded by several other hotel guests and bar staff performing magic tricks for them. As per usual he was the centre of attention and all eyes in the bar were on him.

She couldn't believe it, there she was up in the room worried about his safety and here he was having a jolly good time. And to add salt to the wound, it was without her!

She angrily placed her hands on her hips watching as he performed some trick on a middle aged woman dressed in green sat beside him. Jane leaned over, magically pulling a diamond earring out of the woman's empty champagne glass. Lisbon rolled her eyes as the small group erupted into applause and laughter, totally taken in by his skills.

Jane nodded to the barman for another drink when his head did a double take spotting Lisbon stood in the entrance. A big smile crept across his face as their eyes met across the room as though she was the best thing he had ever seen.

'You're here! Everyone this is my beautiful wife Teresa I was all telling you about.'

Jane jumped down off the bar stool and snaked his way through the bar towards her, placing a long hard kiss on her lips taking her completely by surprise. Before she could question him about what he was up to he turned back to address the patrons of the bar.

'Well, my friends, as fun as this has been I have much more important and beautiful matters to attend to.' Jane winked playfully at Lisbon as he said it then draped his arm casually around her back guiding her out of the room.

'What the hell was that?' Lisbon said once out of earshot of the other guests. 'I thought something bad had happened to you.'

'Come on, I'll explain back up in the room,' Jane said in a more serious tone, moving them back to the hotel elevators.

Once they were alone and enclosed in the elevator Jane swiftly pressed for the seventh floor waiting for the doors to slide shut. As Lisbon was about to question him he quickly pushed her up against the mirror wall claiming her lips in another surprise passionate kiss. For a few moments they just focused on their own desire for each other. Jane eventually pulled back still holding her tightly embraced in his arms and trying to control his growing hard on and getting his reawakened libido under control.

'Where have you been?' Lisbon asked, punching lightly on his shoulder while also trying to tamper down her own growing desires.

'Ow! Jeez woman, we may need to get you some anger management classes again,' Jane said playfully. 'I came downstairs to the lobby to see what I could find out as I was getting nowhere with tweedle dum and tweedle dumber upstairs. No wonder this case has been unsolved for eight years.' Lisbon couldn't help but smirk at his remark knowing exactly who he was referring to.

'But then the FBI showed up everywhere and they wouldn't let me back up to the seventh floor so without giving away our cover I had no choice but to wait in the lobby till they told me otherwise. Anyway I got easily bored so I thought I would do a little more investigating into this place and where is the perfect place to do that?'

'The bar,' Lisbon said, cottoning on to Jane's thinking. Jane smiled, placing a few soft sensual kisses to her neck and earlobe. 'Bingo! So I made a big show of telling people I was on my honeymoon and before I knew it people were buying me drinks to celebrate. I did, however, end up talking to Lenny the Bar Manager though. He has been working at the hotel for over 19 years, started off a busboy but now runs the bar and organises the entertainment. He had a lot of interesting things to say about some of the employees in this place.'

'And the magic tricks?' Lisbon asked, raising a questionable eyebrow at him.

'Well, that was just for my fun of course.'

Lisbon shook her head, rolling her eyes at the childish gleam in his eyes. You could take the man out of showbiz but you couldn't take the showbiz out of the man apparently.

'So did you find out anything about the Summers? I have tried calling Wylie but he isn't picking up,' Lisbon stated, her voice shuddering as his fingers slipped under her blouse lightly tickling her skin. He pulled back from kissing her neck when his hand knocked against the gun handle positioned in the back of her jeans. Lisbon bit her lip and looked away, embarrassed by his amused frown to her packing heat.

'What? I thought you were kidnapped or in danger!'

Jane grinned placing a soft peck to her lips as the elevator came to a halt and the doors reopened to reveal the seventh floor. Spotting the larger officer alone at the other end of the hallway they silently made their way down to their room. The overweight officer was leaning idly against the wall too engrossed on playing on his cell phone to notice them arriving.

'Wylie said he was going to go check out the surveillance cameras and find out what was happening and would get back to us,' Jane whispered as they reach their suite door. Lisbon placed the key card in the slot as Jane gently wrapped his arms around her waist nuzzling into her neck as they entered, kicking the suite door firmly shut behind him.

'I am sorry that I worried you and that I left you alone for so long... That was never my intention,' Jane said, seductively nipping her earlobe lightly between his teeth. 'Maybe there is some way I could make it up to you ...' he whispered, hoping they could maybe pick up where they had left off before the call about the murders came in.

'Jane, two people we had dinner with hours ago are dead.'

'Well, yeah, I know, and as sad as that is there is nothing we can do for them now.' Jane softly turned her in his arms placing a tender kiss to her lips.

'Hmmmm, I am sure I could I think of something...' Lisbon said with a seductive tone to her voice, getting carried away with being back in his arms once more. She slowly hooked both her hands around his head playing with the curls at the back of his neck. Jane grinned wickedly as he kissed her lips again and saw her pupils dilating while slowly manoeuvring her back onto the large kingsize bed. As he lowered her body down onto the mattress he felt her tense. Breaking their kiss Jane pulled his head back to see worry and guilt start to cross Lisbon's face.

'What's wrong?'

'Don't you think we should be focusing on the murder?'

'Well we tried that but with dumb and dumber out there and without blowing our cover completely we can't get any information right now. Not until Wylie resurfaces. So I say we should just focus on the here and now, don't you?'

Jane leaned back down, kissing her lips hard and moving his hands back under her blouse and running his fingers up inside.

Suddenly there was a loud rap at the suite door and Jane groaned inwardly, briefly leaning his head on her shoulder before ignoring the sound and continuing his attempts to make love to the woman underneath him.

'Jane! Someone is at the door!' Lisbon whispered, propping herself up on her elbows.

'They will come back if it's important.' He groaned, far too engrossed on placing kisses down her neck and running his hand over the swell of her breast. Suddenly the sound of a key card being inserted and a small beep sounding loudly into the suite as someone opened the door unannounced and uninvited grabbed their attention.

'Oh my god!' Lisbon squeaked, frantically scrambling off the bed pushing Jane forcibly off her and accidentally onto the floor into a heap. Wylie entered the room. Thankfully for Lisbon Wylie was too busy fumbling with a small step ladder and tool box to notice them or what they had been previously doing on the kingsize bed.

'Oh Lisbon! Jane! I didn't think you were here. I knocked hard several times. Didn't you hear me?' Wylie frowned when he spotted Jane randomly sat on the bedroom floor not looking very happy. 'Are You okay, Jane?'

'Yeah, just perfect,' Jane mumbled, crawling up onto his knees and pushing himself upright using the bed as leverage.

'Uh, yeah. Sorry. We didn't hear you...we were watching TV,' Lisbon stuttered, attempting to straighten her hair and blouse down.

Wylie glanced over to the large switched off plasma screen on the wall and then back towards a guilty looking Lisbon, frowning in confusion at her response.

'What are you doing here Wylie?' Jane said, rubbing his now sore back and seeing that Lisbon's lame excuses were causing more questions than answers.

'I came up to fill you in about the murders so I let myself in using this.' Wylie held up an employee hotel key card. 'Nice suite by the way. Very romantic.'

'It would be...' Jane mumbled irritably, propping himself against the headboard of the bed, sulking that his plans to finally make love to Lisbon were being interrupted. Once again.

'Wylie? What are you doing?' Lisbon asked curiously as the young agent began erecting a small step ladder and climbing up to reach a small white box attached to the wall near the door.

'Oh this? Right. I am installing hidden cameras,' Wylie said chirpily, not noticing the horrified glances between his colleagues. Both Jane and Lisbon faces dropped with utter disappointment knowing that if their own hotel suite was under surveillance there was no way of them moving their new personal relationship onto the next physical level without being caught and seen.

'What? Why?' Jane said sharply, swinging his legs off the bed and not liking what Wylie was about expand on.

'Well, the surveillance camera that I installed on the seventh floor unfortunately had cut footage. The maintenance hotel guys were working on the electrics at the time and switched off the mains to the hallways when the killer actually struck. So we didn't get anything on the cameras to nail this guy.'

'Of course they did. Convenient,' Jane sighed, rolling his eyes knowing those two things definitely weren't a coincidence.

'According to hotel records there are only two couples officially on honeymoon at this current time. You two and the Summers. So there's a good chance the killer may strike again. It's for your own safety; if the killer does decide to target you both we can be on hand to stop him/her and the video evidence will put them away for good.'

'Well I think that these cameras are a little over the top. Who authorised this?' Jane asked, becoming extremely annoyed by this new surveillance development.

'That would be me.'

With that the door of their suite swung open again to reveal Fischer and Cho entering into the room.

'Fischer...' Jane groaned, flopping heavily back down on the bed in defeat knowing full well there was no way he would win this fight. 'So nice to see you. Please, do come in,' he stated sarcastically as he stretched his legs out on the bed turning his head away from her cold icy glare.

'Hey Cho,' Lisbon said, giving a warm smile to her old friend and her new colleague. 'Hi Fischer, good to see you both here.'

'I thought you two weren't expected until tomorrow morning?' Jane asked sharply.

'We weren't but once the call came in from Wylie that another murder had occurred Abbott ordered us to take the private FBI jet straight up,' Cho replied as he looked out of the window at the view of falls behind Lisbon.

'Is that a problem?' Fischer asked firmly directing her question more towards Jane, whose obvious annoyance at their early unexpected arrival was evident. Her eyes quickly roamed over the kingsize bed, noticing how the sheets were in disarray. She then glanced over to Lisbon and noticed her face and neck were flushed pink and she was shifting uncomfortably.

Fischer refocused her attention on the wayward consultant lounging casually on the bed seemingly unaffected by whatever had gone on between them minutes before.

She was already annoyed at Jane for being bumped off the undercover mission in favour of Lisbon but she would be damned if he was going to bump her off investigating the case too. He was clearly holding a grudge towards her over the whole fake identity island ruse but she did what her job required her to do and wasn't about to feel guilty about it.

'Well, actually...' Jane started in protest but stopped short when he caught sight of Lisbon's disapproving glare at him. Her eyes pleaded with him not to start World War III within the team already.

'No. Of course not. There is no problem. We want to catch this killer as much as anyone especially with what has happened to poor Gina and Mike Summers. Don't we, Jane?' Lisbon said softly, raising a stern eyebrow at him to tow the line.

'Yes. Of course. No problem,' Jane said sheepishly, suddenly feeling ashamed he was putting his reawakened libido ahead of catching the killer.

'Good. Well, now that is cleared up shall we get started on solving these murders and finally catching this psychopath?' Fischer barked moving herself over to sit down on the large couch and motioning for the rest of the team to join her.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Mayzee back again. Afraid this chapter is a little low on the 'fun' scale but Consulting Patrick Jane is up next and I know she'll pull it back (no pressure Shena lol!) Hope you enjoy.**

* * *

Chapter 7 - Suspects

As Fischer took her seat Jane couldn't suppress a small smile as she shifted uncomfortably. Her sitting on the cushion with the unruly spring had just improved his mood greatly. Wylie and Lisbon took up positions alongside her as Cho remained standing and Jane stayed on the bed, his head against the headboard and his legs spread out in front of him.

'Okay,' Fischer began, taking charge immediately. 'So here's where we're at. Gina and Mike Summers were found dead three hours ago in their suite. Preliminary indications are that they died from gunshot wounds to the heads just like the other victims. No signs of torture on this occasion. ME states time of death appears to be only five minutes or so before they were discovered. Bodies were still warm when pulses were checked.'

'We just left them before that. It must have happened as soon as they entered their room,' Lisbon stated. 'It was only...what maybe ten minutes or so after we got back that we got the call from Wylie?'

'Could be that whoever this was lay in wait for them,' Cho added.

'Do you have the crime scene photographs?' Jane asked. He would have preferred to see the actual scene for himself but would have to make do on this occasion with photographs.

Fischer opened a file and passed them over in his direction. 'Hot off the press.'

Lisbon looked at them for a moment, feeling guilty that she had been busy rolling around a bed when this was happening. She passed them over to Jane and he nodded, a hint of regret in his face too. Although she wasn't entirely sure if that was because they were interrupted from their amorous activities or because of them.

'See anything?' Fischer pressed as he studied them. He recalled the couple's happy smiles earlier turned into vacant stares as they lay still against the pure white bed sheets, remembered their good natured bickering that only highlighted the love they had for each other. A little annoying but good people he'd decided at the time. He paused, sighed. 'Nothing out of the ordinary,' he commented. 'Did you collect the petals?'

Fischer nodded, passing over an evidence bag with three white daisy petals inside.

'You were right, Lisbon. Definitely daisies,' Jane said, studying them through the bag.

'We're going to ship them to a lab overnight, see if we can get the particular genus, might track down where they're grown if it's a rare variety,' Fischer said.

'Well we checked the gardens around the hotel,' Lisbon stated. 'They're not grown here.'

'Perhaps the spa?' Jane suggested. He turned to Lisbon. 'We should go there for some kind of treatment tomorrow. See if they use daisy petals in any of their procedures.'

Lisbon's face flushed immediately at the thought of the two of them having some kind of couples' massage together. 'Um...okay.'

'What possible use could there be for daisies at the spa?' Fischer asked.

Jane responded, 'Who knows? You can make an excellent tea from the leaves. Aids coughs and catarrh, asthma. Can even be used to help rheumatism, bladder issues. A number of conditions. Externally they can be used on rashes, bruises- '

'Okay. I think we're getting off topic. Fair enough. But Cho and I could just ask there instead of you two taking the time to go there,' Fischer said.

'And if the FBI asks a question like that then if the killer does work there then they'll know we're on to them. Better if we do it undercover. It's what we're here to do, correct?' Jane bit back with, a little sharper than he intended to. 'And since we're not allowed to form part of the actual investigation officially then we need to do something to kill time while we wait to be murdered in our bed. Also, it's where the first murders took place. Different location from the later killings. Could prove relevant so I'd like to have a look around.'

He glanced briefly at Lisbon. If they weren't going to be able to advance their relationship forward in this environment, although he hadn't given up on that notion entirely just yet, he wanted to get these murders solved pronto so they could get back to Austin and advance it there.

As the tension mounted in the room for a few seconds between Jane and his new handler Lisbon finally said, 'That's strange, isn't it? Killer was escalating by adding torture to his repertoire but then suddenly he doesn't in this case?'

'Maybe he was interrupted. Had planned on doing so but got spooked and just killed them outright,' Cho replied.

'Bodes well for us if that's the case,' Jane interjected, placing the photographs he'd been looking at on the bed, face sides down. 'Means they didn't get the thrill they wanted from these kills. More likelihood of them trying again soon.'

Fischer smiled assuredly. 'Exactly my thoughts. Hence the camera in your room.'

'It still would have been nice to have been asked rather than informed about it,' he shot back. 'Still an invasion of privacy,' he bristled.

Lisbon cleared her throat. 'Who found the bodies?'

'Room service waiter named Jeremy. He just started here a few months ago, just turned nineteen,' Cho replied.

'So we can rule him out at least,' she confirmed.

'Yeah,' Fischer replied. 'According to records only ten members of staff have worked here during the entire time of the murders taking place. But they've all already been questioned-'

'They need to be re-questioned if the local cops I spoke to earlier are anything to go by,' Jane chipped in. 'Wouldn't take any of their so called rock solid alibis at face value.'

Lisbon nodded, 'I agree. They need to be looked into again. Even off the books by us.' She turned to Wylie, 'Have you had a chance to check the footage from the new security cameras you installed yet?'

'Um...electrics were switched off-'

'No. I'm not talking about this floor at the time of the murder. I'm talking about elsewhere in the complex. See if we can rule any of our ten suspects out. For these murders at least.'

'Oh! Right. No. I can though as soon as I go back to my room. Good thinking.'

Jane smiled at her quick take on the situation. He loved seeing her dig her teeth into something. Inwardly he rolled his eyes. _Why had he just thought that?_ Now he was imagining her digging her teeth into him. He cleared his throat. 'Wylie, did you get anything more on Kevin the dishwasher? Our young receptionist's jilted ex fiancé?'

'Yeah, he's worked here for ten years. He's one of the ten Fischer mentioned.'

'Any history of violence?' Cho asked.

'Still waiting on background checks to come through.'

'Who authorised the maintenance people to cut the electrics at that time?' Jane asked.

'Hotel manager. Routine maintenance. Apparently,' Cho responded.

'Hmm. Let me guess. He's one of the ten too.'

'How'd you guess,' Cho stated.

'Although if it's fairly routine then most employees, especially long term ones like those we're talking about would be aware of it and time their killing accordingly. But we could use it to our advantage to get them to try again once we narrow the list down or have a viable suspect,' Lisbon suggested. 'Cut the power to make them come after us.'

'Certainly sounds like an option we could explore a little further down the road,' Fischer responded.

Cho ordered, 'Wylie, check hotel phone logs as far back as you can go. See if calls were made from the rooms before the murders-'

'Local PD probably already checked-'

'Check again. See if room service was ordered and who brought it.'

'And see what they ordered,' Jane added.

Confused glances met his request. He shrugged. 'There might be a particular dish that brings on homicidal tendencies in this psychopath for all we know,' he smiled.

'Yeah, like you with bad eggs,' Lisbon smirked.

He grinned at her, all at once only having eyes for her. 'Well I wouldn't go that far my dear but...if the toast isn't buttered correctly or the accompanying tea is cold then you might be close to the truth.'

She smiled back, her pulse beginning to race again. She swallowed and turned back to Fischer who was scrutinising her face, making her drop her smile instantly. 'Um...Jane mentioned he spoke to the bar manager earlier.' She turned back to him, hoping her expression came across as professional. 'You never got a chance to tell me what he had to say.' She knew her eyes betrayed her unspoken next words as he smirked a little through his blank expression. _Because we were too busy making out and ripping clothes off each other to care._

'Well as I told you he's worked here for over nineteen years so he's on the list I expect.' He glanced at Fischer, 'By the way, who are the ten people we're talking about as suspects then?'

Wylie handed out a typed list to him and the others. Jane scanned it quickly, inwardly adding his own comments to the people he'd already encountered.

1\. Roger Hannon. _Busboy who checked them into their room. Downer. Suspected thief if how he looked at Lisbon's ring was anything to go by. Murderer too? Doubtful_.

2\. Chavez Hernandez. _Room service waiter terrified then aroused by the sight of Lisbon. Doubtful as murderer but seemed to have the low down on hotel gossip. Could prove useful as a source to spread false rumours among other staff members to catch actual killer._

3\. Mandy Miller. _Waitress they'd met at breakfast. The one who'd made Lisbon jealous. Too busy enjoying that spectacle than to notice much else about her. Need to get a better read off her in the morning._

4\. Eugene Smith. _Bad egg chef. More than likely had done time but didn't scream psychopath. Not him._

5\. Kevin Nichols. _Bad tempered ex fiancé. Possible. Need to make contact to get a read off him._

6\. Lilly O'Henry. _Shy receptionist. Troubled when honeymoon mentioned. Possible reserved cover to hide psychopathic tendencies. Need to push her buttons, spark a reaction to make certain._

7\. John Sheridan. _Hotel Manager. Need to engineer meeting. Motive?_

8\. Blake Henderson. _Concierge. Slimy. Lecherous. Ambitious. Certainly sociopathic tendencies. But actual murderer? Unsure. Again, motive? Publicity bad for hotel._

9\. Lenny Thomas. _Bar Manager. Friendly. Perhaps too friendly. Another meeting required._

10\. Heather Newell. Spa Manager. _Will read her tomorrow._

'Jane?' Fischer prodded, 'Lenny Thomas?'

He paused, partly just to annoy her, pretending he hadn't finished perusing the list, 'Yes, Lenny. Well he told me that young Lilly is actually engaged again. To Blake Henderson, creepy concierge. Still a secret apparently but a badly kept one by all accounts. Gossip is that she doesn't want her ex fiancé Kevin Nichols finding out just yet. But chances are he already has.'

Lisbon frowned, 'Isn't there a bit of an age gap between them?'

'Yep. Lilly is twenty six. Henderson is forty five.'

'Yuk,' Wylie said, making a face. 'An old guy like that-'

'Forty five is not exactly ancient my young friend,' Jane smiled, casting a quick glance at Lisbon in the process. 'You'd be surprised what people over forty are capable of when properly motivated.'

Wylie coloured immediately, glancing around the room as if just realised he was sitting in a roomful of people hitting that milestone. 'No...I'm...I didn't mean-'

Jane chuckled, 'Don't sweat it, Wylie.'

'How long ago were Kevin and Lilly engaged?' Cho asked.

'According to Lenny eight years ago when she started. Kevin got her the job here.'

'Hmm. So she was employed just before the killings started?' Lisbon frowned, deepening it as the next thought struck her, 'How could a dishwasher influence her getting a job here? I mean, no offence but it's hardly a position of power.'

Jane grinned at her. 'Precisely my question to Lenny. He told me that Kevin was assistant manager at the time. Then his temper got him in some kind of trouble and he was demoted. And then demoted again. Rumour is that he only works here to keep an eye on Lilly.'

Fischer sighed loudly, 'Well that's all very interesting Jane but we need more than idle gossip and speculation. For all we know he could have been feeding you a load of bull.'

'You think I don't know a load of bull when I'm getting it fed to me?' he smiled confidently.

She smirked, standing up, 'Not always...Patrick.'

His smile faltered for just a second but enough that he realised Lisbon noticed it out of the corner of his eye. Plus how Fischer had said his first name, almost a seductive tone to it. Nonchalantly, 'As we've discussed previously...Kim, that wasn't a persona you wore on the island, the one you're wearing now is.'

'No, it's not,' she said defiantly.

'Then I feel sorry for you,' he replied softly.

Clearly affected by his words she turned towards Cho and Wylie. 'It's getting late. We need to check into our rooms. We'll pick this up again in the morning. Go through Wylie if you need to get any messages to us. It'll look suspicious otherwise.'

'Lisbon and I will check out the breakfast waitress Mandy and Lilly before we speak to Heather at the spa in the afternoon.'

'I want to speak to the Manager too,' Lisbon said, 'We haven't met him. We can instigate a complaint, insist on meeting him,' she added.

'Fine,' Fischer replied. 'We'll talk to the others as part of the official investigation.'

As they finished discussing their respective roles a yawn from Jane incited the others to finally bid their farewells.

'Wylie?' Jane asked as the others were filing out of the room, 'Is sound being recorded also?'

He shook his head. 'No, just visual. But I can-'

'No,' Jane said determinedly. 'I don't want you to add it. People don't need to bear witness to Lisbon's snoring,' he grinned, earning him a whack on the arm from her for the comment as he closed the door behind them.

They both looked up at the camera that was now pinned on them and rolled their eyes. 'Let's brush our teeth,' he suggested, smiling.

She bit her bottom lip but nodded. Shyly, she whispered, 'You go first.'

He whispered back. 'Okay, but why are you whispering?'

'Go,' she told him.

* * *

When she entered the bathroom Jane was standing with his back to the sink, his arms crossed waiting for her. As soon as she entered and closed the door he took the two steps necessary to enclose her in an embrace as his lips met hers. She kissed him back eagerly for a few moments. Only when his hands began to travel up the front of her blouse did she pull away. 'Jane, we can't.'

He glanced at the front of his pants, already tight from just a few kisses. 'I'm pretty certain we can,' he grinned.

Blushing she turned on the water and took her toothbrush out of the holder. 'You think I don't want to?' She rolled her eyes, adding toothpaste furiously. 'It's killing me too.'

As she leant over the sink he brushed himself against her, his hands on her waist as he dropped light kisses to her neck. 'So what's stopping you?'

She leaned into him for a second and groaned as she felt him against her. 'Oh god,' she said. Then she puffed out a breath and pushed him back with her hand. Deflated he stood at her side and watched as she brushed her teeth, the pent up sexual energy making the process more frenzied than usual he guessed. Rolling his eyes he joined her and for a few minutes all that could be heard was the intermittent rinsing and spitting into the pair of bathroom sinks positioned in the room. As they cleaned their mouths on a couple of towels he asked, more serious, 'Second thoughts about this? About us?'

She shook her head and pressed a minty kiss to his lips. 'No. Not at all. But...' She gestured to the room they were standing in. 'But I didn't imagine our first time to be in a bathroom where I'd have to hock my leg up or lie on a cold tiled floor. It's hardly what you would call a romantic setting.'

He couldn't stop a smile at her perhaps more than honest summation. He nodded towards the Jacuzzi bath in the corner. 'What about in there?'

'Yeah, all that slipping and sliding. Sex in a bathtub is not romantic in real life. Doesn't look like it does in the movies. Shower either-'

'I see there are many things I've yet to find out about you, Teresa,' he smiled, kissing her. 'I had no idea how sexually adventurous you've been.' A wicked smile crept across his lips. 'But not with me. I can be pretty inventive in lots of interesting ways.'

'Oh, shut up,' she blushed, 'Anyway the way our luck is going one of us would slip and break something even if we did give it a shot. And how the hell would we explain that to Fischer? Never mind how we'd explain us both being in the bathroom at the same time for more than a few minutes.'

He sighed, seeing she wasn't going to be swayed. At least not tonight. But he could see her point. He wanted to be able to spend his time getting to know her body the first time, didn't want it to be some kind of rushed affair. Of course that was in an ideal world. He wasn't sure how either one of their resolves would last before much longer.

'Come on,' she said, kissing him softly. 'Let's go to bed.'

They took turns getting changed in the bathroom before they crawled into bed together. The blinking red light of the camera shone down on them like an annoying beacon as they lay side by side. It reminded Lisbon of a picture her mother had of the Sacred Heart that had a red light at the bottom. It was like a sign to her that God was watching. Now she transposed God with Wylie, Cho and Fischer and sighed loudly.

'You think this is okay? Sharing a bed? With _them_ watching?' she asked Jane who was lying beside her with his eyes closed and his hands intertwined on top of his stomach. He seemed the opposite of her suddenly, a picture of tranquillity.

'I'm not going back to that couch. I've suffered enough tonight,' he replied with a hint of surliness.

She couldn't stop a smile. 'How come you're suddenly so calm?'

'Because I'm pretending that you're not right next to me. But if you continue to talk then that's going to prove impossible.'

'Can't sleep.' She shook her leg nervously.

'Well we could always give the bathroom a try. I'm pretty sure I could wear you out,' he grinned. 'Or most probably the other way around. Or both in fact.'

'Oh, hush,' she said swatting him with her hand. Instead of withdrawing it she rested it on top of his, ghosting her fingers over his. He pulled a blanket up to cover them and took hers in his underneath it. 'Okay, impossible to forget you're next to me now,' he smiled, his eyes still closed but caressing her fingertips slowly.

She turned on her side to look at his side profile as they continued to hold hands under the covers. 'You know Gina told me that she and Mike knew each other for over thirty years. First time they married they were just out of college. Too young to make it last she said. Second time they got married they still had baggage from the first time as it hadn't worked-'

Jane turned towards her and opened his eyes, listening intently.

She continued, 'Then...well then they met again. Just a few months ago. She said she felt it was different then. Like they really had a chance to make it work.'

'Did you ask her why?' Jane asked softly. 'What made the difference?'

'No,' she stammered, her eyes suddenly tearing up. 'I was so busy being mad at you...of not being sure of how you felt about me...I... I didn't bother.'

He could see it in her face, the touch of fear in her eyes still that they were rushing into this too fast.

'I think we're ready,' he said softly. 'It feels right. Even just lying here beside you. It feels incredibly right, Teresa. And god, I want to kiss you right now,' he added gently, moving one hand from his stomach to wipe a few stray tears from her cheeks.

'Yeah, me too,' she sighed, laughing a little. 'But this also seems to be what we're good at. Terrible timing.'

He chuckled softly, 'I don't care who knows about us. But I know you do or I'd take my chance right now and to hell with the camera.'

'Well I don't think Fischer would be too impressed with us canoodling in front of her face.'

'Well that would be her problem, wouldn't it?'

'There's obviously some left over tension between you two. She wasn't happy being sidelined. Or that Abbott agreed when you asked for me to take her place.'

He smiled mischievously, 'Well I may have had a slightly hidden agenda.'

She quirked an eyebrow. 'So I realise now.'

She sighed and squeezed his hand, deciding it was time for a little honesty herself. 'She's partly why I've been off with you since you got back. You get me a job with the FBI and as soon as I arrive Fischer is asking me what I did to keep you in line for so many years.'

He grinned. 'She did? And what did you tell her?'

'I told her I hadn't the faintest idea.' She paused. 'Still don't. Not that anything I ever said to you made much of a difference to how you behaved anyway.'

'It made more of a difference more often than you realised.'

'It did? You mean you'd have been even more reckless with someone else in charge?'

'Absolutely,' he smiled. 'Let me guess, Fischer thought you must have withheld some kind of sexual favours to get me to toe the line? And that made you worried about the wrong impression being given out about you and your presence at the FBI. That you were hired to satisfy a more...personal need for me? So you made sure to keep your distance to put those rumours to rest.'

'And to make people realise I'm a fine investigator even without you.'

'Well of course you are. Only an idiot would think otherwise.'

'Oh? And what about all those times you were condescending to me like I hadn't a clue what I was doing?'

'That? Well that was just for the fun of annoying you. It's your own fault.'

'How's that?'

'Well you have an absolutely adorable scowl when you're annoyed with me. It's quite irresistible.' He began to laugh at her expression. 'See, like right now?'

'Jerk,' she muttered. She shook her head and went back to topic. 'You know she blatantly asked me if we were ever involved. Although...well...I got the impression that was because she was interested in you in that way. I think she still might be.'

He nodded slowly. 'You're most probably correct.'

She nodded in return, troubling her bottom lip.

'You can ask me anything, Teresa. But...well you might not like some of the answers.'

She took a deep breath. 'Did something happen between you two? When you first met?'

He shook his head. 'No. At least not in the way you mean. I liked her though. She wasn't like who she's trying to be now. She was more relaxed...easy to get along with.' He paused, 'But then it had been so long since I had a normal conversation with someone who spoke English maybe I'm romanticising how it was.'

'You found her attractive, though, right?'

'Well she's an attractive woman so yes, I was attracted to her.'

'But now?' she ventured.

He grinned. 'How many times do I need to tell you that I want _you_? Certainly not her.' Serious again, 'Teresa, I didn't know if I was ever going to see you again when I met her. I missed my best friend. For two years the pain of not seeing you every day never lessened, only grew. It was only when I wrote to you that I got a temporary reprieve from it. She was a distraction for me at a time I needed one.'

He felt the wedding ring on his finger, heavy suddenly, wondered whether he should come clean about taking it off when he was on the island with Fischer.

Lisbon's yawn made the decision for him. 'Kay. Suppose we should get some sleep. Busy day tomorrow.'

He mirrored her yawn. 'Yeah, hopefully we'll catch a break in the case. Night, Teresa.'

'Hopefully we'll catch the killer.' She paused. 'Night, Patrick.'

Just as she closed her eyes she saw the white of his teeth set in a grin and felt his hand squeeze hers under the bed sheets.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Hope you enjoy the chapter! Thanks for the love on Mayzee's chapter. Next up is brooklyn79! –**

 **Consulting Patrick Jane**

 **This chapter is very slightly M rated in parts.**

* * *

Chapter 8 – So close and yet...

The monotonous blinking of the red light on the camera currently projecting in the early morning darkness made Lisbon frown. She had been staring at that goddamn thing for what seemed like hours. What was even worse was she could feel Jane behind her. Not merely a few inches away, but smack up against her, his arm slung haphazardly over her body, his face buried in the back of her neck. His shallow breaths tickled, but she was far from in the mood to laugh about it.

She gently moved her arm up, softly pushing it back to jab him in the ribs. He raised himself slightly, startled awake by her nudge. Looking around, he removed his arm from around her and sat up, rubbing his eyes with his palms. She sat up beside him, slouching against the headboard, sighing deeply in frustration.

'You know,' she whispered to Jane. 'I am all for surveillance, but this is a little uncomfortable! Knowing Wylie is watching is very creepy. I don't like it.' She crossed her arms, a pout forming on her features. 'And that light is driving me crazy!'

'Well, my dear Teresa,' Jane said, yawning. 'I agree. I detest it, too. Ordinarily, I am all for spying on people and all that James Bond stuff, but,' he leaned over to whisper in her ear, 'not at the sacrifice of seeing every inch of you. Feeling every inch, more like it.' He knew he didn't have to whisper in her ear, but he needed the intimate contact. He was seriously going crazy.

'Well, tough,' she told him, kicking the covers off herself. 'Crime fighting is hard. Suck it up.'

He watched her get out of the bed, his fingers aching to reach out and pull her by the elbow back to the mattress and show her what else was hard, but he decided against giving Wylie a heart attack at the show. Instead, he settled for watching her movement across the room, his eyes drawn to her butt as she walked.

'Damn you, Wylie,' he grumbled under his breath, slumping his head back against the headboard.

'We are going to speak to Lilly and Mandy today, right?' she shouted from the open bathroom door.

He heard her turn on the shower. He casually uncovered himself and walked himself to the window. He observed, through the slats in the blinds, that some sun was shining through. He smiled to himself as he conceived of a way to pay back Wylie for intruding on his romantic notions with Lisbon. He reached over and drew in the cord, letting the slats open completely, flooding the room with bright yellow sunlight. He looked back over at the camera, and noticed a large beam striking right down on the lens. He smiled to himself and walked around the bed, crossing through the small sitting area before working his way into the bathroom.

She was standing stark naked, her clothes in a heap on the floor. She twisted around, startled after Jane snapped the bathroom door shut. She held up the towel she was holding across the front of her body, her expression a mixture of startled fear and abashment. He smiled wickedly at her as he paced forward, tilting his head with his eyes falling from the top of her head down to the towel.

'Not a very fitting look for you,' he whispered, reaching a hand out to pull the towel from her gasp. 'Much better,' he added, casting aside the towel onto the floor and kicking it with his feet. 'I like this view.'

'Jane!' she proclaimed, trying to cover herself with her hands. 'We can't! Wylie! Cameras! Or have you forgotten?'

He chuckled as his hands reached up to gently pry hers from her breasts. He let go of one wrist, but drew her gently to him with the other. His free hand reached up to her naked hip, ghosting his fingers over the indentation there, sliding his hand up the side of her body.

'I've taken care of that for now,' he told her. 'Right now, I am standing with a very naked, very beautiful woman. I feel a little over-clothed. What should I do about that?'

His hand ghosted over the mound of her perky breast, traveling up the pillar of her neck. He let his fingers whisper over her lips, lightly pressing on them with the pads of his digits. She gasped inwardly at his intimate touch upon her fully naked body. At long last, a smile appeared under his probing fingers.

'Well,' she stated, reaching the hand not held by his grip up to play with a button on his pajama top. 'I could even the playing field? I suppose we have… What? Ten minutes?'

'Something like that,' he told her, dropping his hand from her lips to the small of her back, pushing her hard against him. 'No time to waste.'

He leaned in to capture her lips with his own, releasing her wrist and taking back his hands as he reached back to pull the shirt from his body. Straightaway, he felt her fingers scrape his muscled flesh, her nails cascading downward. She looked up at him and bit her lip, her fingers slipping down toward the elastic band of his pants.

He pushed her hair from her face and smiled at her, grasping her chin gently as he felt her hands slide in between the material of his boxers and his hot, burning skin. He felt her hand rub against his sensitive skin, her fingers caressing him softly. He groaned. It was a little embarrassing, but he couldn't help it. All this pent up sexual frustration was getting to him.

'Teresa,' he whispered, closing his eyes at the sensation of her touching him so familiarly.

'Yes, husband?' she said, chuckling. Her fingers slipped down to touch the head of his hardness, causing him to groan loudly again.

'These are the times I am thankful that camera doesn't have audio,' he told her. 'I want you,' he told her opening his eyes with a strong ring of desire hooding them. 'I—please, let me?'

'Let you—WHOA!' she cried out as he reached for her waist and hoisted her up, placing his hands under her butt as she locked her legs around his waist, her hand pulling out of his pants and holding onto his shoulder. 'What are you _doing_?'

'Well, Teresa,' he told her, reaching to push the toothbrushes and toothpaste into the sink as he sat her up onto the counter. 'I really think I should show you that there is such a thing as good shower sex.' He stood between her now relaxed legs and kissed her lips before turning to lean over and test the temperature of the shower. 'You just haven't _had_ it yet.'

He reached down and pulled at his pants, pushing them with his hands to his knees before lifting his feet to toe them the rest of the way off. His boxers and pants fell to the floor, and he kicked them aside. Now they were both naked. Neither was over-dressed for the occasion.

'You don't think...uh, _he's_ going to get cold?' she asked, biting her lip and nodding her head to his now engorged erection. 'I mean… isn't that how it works? Water grows cold and he goes back in? Like a groundhog seeing his shadow in winter?'

'Oh, ha-ha,' he told her, leaning into her to take his hand to her soft breast. 'Very funny, this morning.'

'Thank you,' she whispered, letting him kiss her. She opened her mouth for him, letting him have access to her mouth with his tongue, feeling him probe and explore. Her legs locked around his as he lifted her in the air once more, not breaking the kiss as he gently stepped inside the shower and closed the shower curtain. Her legs unlocked, her body pressed against his under the warm water no sooner her feet hit the shower floor. He leaned an arm against the shower wall in front of him, letting the water cascade down their bodies as he kissed her wet neck. He trailed kisses up her throat and to her lips. He ground himself into her, relishing the extra warmth her body was providing. He pushed her against the cool tiles of the shower, lifting her leg around his hip.

'Jane,' she said. 'Jane! There's nothing to grab onto!'

'Try the soap dish,' he offered, nodding toward the small dish jutting out from the wall.

'Okay...'

He leaned down to kiss her shoulder, but just as he was making his way back to her collarbone, he heard a snap, and then hard clinking behind him. His head popped up and he turned himself slightly, looking down into the shower and seeing the soap dish had snapped off the wall and was lying idly near their feet.

'Damn it!' Lisbon stated. 'Flimsy piece of-'

Jane chuckled, making her break off from her rant. 'I'm sorry, but you have to admit. That is funny. Something really doesn't want us to make love,' he replied. 'I could always lift you up and you could hold onto my shoulders?'

'Looks like there isn't much choice, is there?' she told him.

'No,' he agreed. 'I won't drop you, I promise.'

His hands slid around and down her back, following the contour of her spine. Placing his hands under her butt, he gently lifted her onto his waist, sliding her gently up the tiled wall as her legs locked around his hips. He smiled at her wet hair plastered against her fair skin, her lips inviting him to taste the water.

'How's this?' he asked her, kissing the tip of her nose. 'Better?'

'Mm,' she mumbled as he gyrated his hips in a circle against her core. 'Yeah.'

'Good,' he whispered, kissing her lips. 'Now, about that good shower sex...'

'I think you were about to show me how it is done?' she replied, encircling his neck with her arms.

'I do believe—OUCH!' he cried out, loosening his grip on her. She slid down the tile wall and ended up pinned between his body and the wall in an awkward angle as Jane hung his head in pain. 'Oh, god! Owww! I think… I think I broke my spine!'

'What is it?' Lisbon asked, concerned.

'Pulled a muscle in my back,' he gritted through his teeth. 'Obviously my lean frame has deceived you,' he joked, crying out in pain again when he pulled at his back. 'Oww!'

She straightened herself and pushed on his bare, wet chest so she could step out of the shower. She crossed her arms and turned back to him, a pout on her face.

'This was a bad idea, Jane,' she said. 'Good shower sex! My ass. Obviously, there is some kind of force keeping us very, very sexually frustrated!' She reached down and snapped up the towel, wrapping it around herself. 'Just forget it!' She turned on her heel and was about to exit the bathroom when she heard him laugh a painful laugh. 'Think it is funny, do you? Just a reminder that you are the one jumping me at every turn!'

'I am laughing because you were about to walk out of the bathroom in just your towel. You really want to give Wylie a show, be my guest,' he told her, stepping out of the shower and wincing, kneading the muscles in his back as he hunched over. 'Look, love,' he said, reaching out for her and pressing her to his wet body, kissing her damp hair. 'We will have our chance and it will be amazing, okay? I am gonna want you just as much then as I do now. Plus, I think getting into a shower naked is a step above copping a feel under your dress and shirt.'

He felt her chuckle against his chest. 'You're right,' she said. 'Just it seems nothing wants us to be together.'

'What do you mean?' he asked.

'Cameras, your old age,' she laughed when he groaned. 'All of it.'

'Well, I promise you I will fix it, okay? Nothing can go wrong,' he told her. 'Now, we should get dressed and go see Lilly and Mandy. I'll fetch your clothes, Teresa. Stay here,' he told her, grabbing an extra towel from the rack behind him. 'And don't worry, Teresa,' he smiled at her. 'My day has already been made seeing your natural beauty in all its glory.'

He winked at her, kissed her damp cheek, and exited the bathroom in his towel, leaving her standing there smiling after him.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, Jane and Lisbon boarded the elevator to go down to the lobby in hopes of investigating Lilly, the front desk clerk, and Mandy, the waitress. They hadn't come up with a plan, though, on how. Jane was still feeling the pain from his pulled muscle, and Lisbon was feeling the pain from coming so far only to be denied yet again. They were surprised when Fischer was standing in the elevator when it opened, and it became awkward when silence overtook their ride down.

'Off to find out what you can on the front desk clerk?' Fischer finally asked as the doors opened.

'Yes,' Lisbon told her. 'And the waitress. You?'

'Well,' she said sullenly, 'since you guys have that covered, I guess it is the Concierge for me. Blake Henderson. You okay, Jane?' she asked, noticing he was slouched. 'You look...'

'Yes, yes. Bathroom mishap. Well,' Jane told her with a smile. 'Good luck, Kim!'

To both Lisbon and Fischer's utter surprise, he stepped forward and pulled her into a bear hug. He only pulled back when Lisbon cleared her throat, holding open the elevator with her arm. After he stepped out and the elevator closed, she turned to him, stopping mid-stride.

'What was that for?' she asked, a hint of jealousy in her voice.

'Ah,' he answered, waving a dismissive hand in the air, and pushing a hand to his aching back. 'I like riling her up. She's wound a little tight, wouldn't you say?'

She looked at him suspiciously, but turned and walked on into the lobby where Lilly was thankfully on duty. Jane took Lisbon's hand (which was automatic now), and rolled them up to the desk. Jane rang the small bell that was for call service, getting the attention of Lilly.

'Oh, Mr. and Mrs. Jane,' she called confidently. 'Enjoying your stay?'

'We are,' Jane told her, mirroring her smile. 'I have to say, though, that we need some service to our room. You see,' he told her, leaning toward her with a wince and a whisper. 'My wife and I may have accidentally broken the soap dish in the bathroom. My lady,' he laughed, nodding toward Lisbon. 'She's quite adventurous. I fear she ripped it off the wall in her excitement.'

'Ex-excitement?' Lilly asked. 'I-I don't think I follow…'

'I ripped it off the wall trying to get into a comfortable position, Lilly,' Lisbon told her. 'You know how it is for us ladies sometimes. Height differences.'

'I… Oh… Okay,' she stammered. 'I will have the maintenance guy there today sometime.' She smiled, though it didn't quite reach her eyes.

'You know how us guys are,' Jane pushed, trying to garner a reaction from her that would tell him something about herself without words. 'The bed seems a little loose, too. The headboard bangs against the wall too much. I am very surprised, Lilly, that you haven't got a complaint yet!'

'I don't require an explanation,' she said, clearly uncomfortable with the sexual references he was feeding her. 'I will have someone fix it.'

'Thank you, Lilly,' Jane said after a few moments of awkward silence between them. 'My wife and I apologize for having to have this done.'

She smiled a false smile as Jane and Lisbon walked away into the buffet area. When they were out of earshot, Lisbon turned to Jane and narrowed her eyes at him.

'What?'

'Nothing. So, did you get a good read on her?' she asked inquisitively. 'Anything?'

He sighed. 'I am almost certain she's innocent,' he told her, walking once more to the end of the buffet line. 'First, she's genuine in her uncomfortable, prudish reactions to our highly sexual overtones. Second, she is very eager for us to leave. High voice and fake smile are usually not a serial killer's forte. They are overly confident and charming.'

'Great,' Lisbon commented. 'Leaves her out, then. Nine to go.'

'Listen, grumpy,' he told her, making his way down the buffet line toward Mandy, 'this isn't a total disaster. I mean, we had a good talk that involved a lot of truth, right? Progress. Sure, the start of our sex life is pushed back a little, but I have a plan for that.'

She slid her tray along and narrowed her eyes at him, deciding she didn't even want to know what he meant.

'You pulled a muscle, Jane. You are slumping. You look like you have a hunchback. How do you plan on fixing that?' she inquired, reaching for a bran muffin.

'Let you do all the work, of course,' he replied, winking at her. 'Look, let's just get this out of the way, let me do my thing. Then, I have a surprise for you, okay? And then after that, we can go to the spa and check it out.'

She watched as he slid his tray in front of Mandy, a smile planted firmly on his face. Mandy smiled smoothly back at him, placing some eggs on his plate.

'How're you doing?' she asked him, giving him an extra scoop of egg. 'Nice morning. Hello!' she said, greeting Lisbon with a half-hearted smile.

'Ah, Mandy! Lovely to see you!' Jane greeted, wincing when Lisbon placed a hand to his sore back. He knew she didn't like the affectionate tone either was giving the other woman.

'How are you liking the place so far?' she asked. 'Having a great honeymoon?' Her eyes slid to Lisbon and back to Jane.

'As a matter of fact,' Jane said, nodding, 'we are! We weren't going to come… What, with all the murders and such!' he told her.

Mandy's smile faded. 'Tragic,' she said simply.

'It is,' Lisbon interjected. 'I have to worry about my safety when I am alone… sleeping in bed with my husband!' She looked at Jane pointedly. 'How have you coped with all this?'

She shrugged, placing a piece of sausage on Jane's plate. 'Nothing I can do about it, I am afraid. Besides, it wasn't me. It's not like I knew them or anything. Tragedy happens every day.'

'Sure does,' Jane agreed. 'How do you feel about honeymooners such as ourselves? I mean, doesn't it get kind of boring? Serving the same crap to the same people?'

She looked confused by his statement. 'Why, no! I love it! I meet the greatest people! Such as yourself…' she trailed off. 'And your lovely wife,' she added, sliding her gaze over to Lisbon's sour face.

'Come on, man!' a tourist behind them shouted. 'I'm hungry!'

'Well,' Lisbon said, pushing on Jane's sore muscle, 'it was nice to talk with you again. Have a good day serving your… eggs and sausage!'

She pushed Jane along the line until they found a spot to sit down and eat their breakfast. Jane winced in pain as he sat down gingerly. Lisbon, looking miffed and sour, sat across from him, picking at her muffin.

'I was trying to see her reaction, Teresa,' he assured her. 'Your jealousy is adorable. My back doesn't think so, though!' He winced again.

'Well? Anything?'

He picked at his eggs with his fork and smiled. 'Yeah. Damn good eggs. Fluffy and light. A tad dry, but-OUCH!' he cried out when he felt her foot stomp down on his foot. 'Alright!' he conceded. 'I think she's hiding something. She's too into the job.'

'Too into the job?' Lisbon repeated. 'What does that mean?'

'Who the hell likes serving eggs and cooked meat all day?' Jane quipped. 'She's clearly hiding something. Plus, her nonchalant reply to the murders is suspicious. A normal person would be sympathetic. She was pedantic and aloof.'

'Wait… What? Would you please speak English!' she told him, chewing on her muffin.

'She's too detached. She clearly holds a sociopathic tendency of some kind. It's just what kind and why,' he said, finishing his eggs. 'Eat up. I have a surprise for you.'

'Yeah, can't wait,' she replied sarcastically, picking off another piece of her muffin.

* * *

It was fifteen minutes later that they had gotten into the elevator alone. He pulled her to him immediately, only crying out once when he twinged his back. He kissed her softly, a few pecks on the cheek and on her forehead. Once the doors opened to their floor she was going to get out but he pulled her back.

'What? This is our floor, isn't it?' she asked, confused.

'Ah,' he smiled. 'That is not where we are heading, Teresa.'

She looked up at him and rolled her eyes. 'What are you planning?'

Before he could answer, the elevator dinged up to the next floor. They got out and Jane led her by the hand down the hallway. He pulled out a keycard from his pocket and looked at the number engraved on it.

'Where did you-You got that from _Fischer_!' Lisbon accused, pointing at the card. ' _That's_ why you gave her that weird hug! You picked her pocket!'

'Maybe,' he said with a wink. 'Look, I really want some alone time with you, and we can't do it with cameras in our room, and the bathroom is not safe as we found out. Fischer will be gone for a few hours talking to the other suspects. We can sneak in her room, do what we have been trying to do for days, and get out of there. Alright?'

He stopped in front of room 834, snapping the key into the mechanism and opening the door. He let her go in first, coming in behind her and shutting the door. The room was empty, and there was nothing in it but a king size bed, nightstand, dresser and TV.

'Jane, this feels-' she started to say, turning around only to be pressed up against the wall near the door by Jane, his lips finding hers in heated need.

She opened her mouth automatically as her hands came around his back, eliciting a groan of pain against her lips. He left her mouth and trailed a hand from her waist, over the material of her shirt and squeezed her breast in his palm.

'Jane, your back,' she gasped, feeling his other hand pull at her wrist. He lifted it in the air and pinned it above her head with his hand.

'You will have to do most of the work,' he told her, reaching his hand from her breast to her other hand and joining it with the one above her head. 'I'm a wounded man, Teresa. But I will help where I can.'

'You are doing a good job already,' she told him, allowing him to kiss her lips once again. 'But if you want me to take control, you're going to have to let my hands go,' she whispered in his ear.

He released her hands and stepped back from her a pace. She took his hand and led him to the bed, gently pushing him onto the mattress. She smiled at him as she climbed on top of him, stopping only when he groaned in pain as she sat straddling his legs.

'Did I hurt you?' she asked. 'Sorry.'

'You are lying to me, Teresa,' he smirked. 'I won't press the point because you don't know how long I have been wanting this,' he told her seductively.

'Oh?' she asked innocently, tilting her head as her hands worked at the fly of his pants. 'And how long has it been?'

He felt her hands pull the hem of his shirt from his open pants, her hands sliding up under the material of his shirt, his vest bunching on his chest. She leaned forward and planted a soft kiss on his lips.

'Long, Teresa,' he whispered. 'Far longer than any man could really cope.'

She scraped the skin of his chest with her fingernails as she felt his hands on either side of her hips pulling her slightly forward. She could feel his hardness under her, ready.

'I see,' she whispered, giving him another chaste kiss. 'Well, I will be honest, here, Patrick. Having sex in Fischer's room is really, _really_ creepy, but it's also kind of erotic.'

'The thought of getting caught is always an erotic feeling, Teresa,' he replied. 'It's the allure of the consequence that is exciting.'

She extracted her fingers from his shirt, which gained her a groan, and pulled her blouse from her body, discarding it over the side of the bed. Next, she removed her bra, placing that with her shirt on the floor. He leaned a hand up to skim over the milky flesh of her exposed abdomen, lingering up to the swell of her breast, where he squeezed the soft, warm mound in his hand, flicking the nipple with the pad of his thumb.

'Well,' she told him. 'I do believe I know of a remedy for aching muscles,' she replied, unfastening his vest buttons as he continued to push on her breast. 'It involves rigorous amounts of movement to stimulate. Very, _very_ handy.'

'Hm,' he said, letting his hand drop from her breast and come up to cup her face. 'Sounds very much what I need right now.'

'Good,' she whispered, sliding her hand from his vest down in between the material of his boxers and his warm flesh. 'Because there will be lots of extra movement, I assure you.'

'Yes, Dr. Lisbon,' he replied, a gleam in his eye. 'Any after effects for this treatment?'

'Well, I-'

Just then, they heard the door handle jiggle from the other side of the door. Quickly, Lisbon scrambled off of Jane, making him groan out in pain as her body climbed over him. She dove onto the floor behind the bed and looked up, noticing Jane hadn't followed her.

'Jane!' she whispered. 'Jane! Someone is trying to come in!'

He didn't turn to her. Instead, he nodded his head. 'I know,' he told her. 'But I can't get up.'

She groaned as the door handle jiggled harder. She leapt up and moved around the bed, reaching down to lift Jane up and off the bed. He hunched over and used her for leverage as they got to the other side of the bed, with Jane flat on the floor and Lisbon smack up against him on her side.

'My back is worse,' he told her. 'You climbed over me and it pulled.'

'Shh!' she told him. 'Someone is coming in! I _knew_ this was a bad idea!'

'Hey, you were just up there with me, Dr. Lisbon!' Jane whispered. 'And you were into this, too!'

'I was into it because you jumped me as soon as I got in here! What was I going to do? Say _no_?'

'That is preci-'

He was cut off by Fischer's voice, followed by the door opening. Lisbon reached out and put a hand over Jane's mouth to stop his protests. She was huddled next to him holding her shirt and bra in her one hand and shutting up Jane with the other, who was taking his hand to his back and rubbing it.

'I could have sworn that keycard was in my pocket,' she was telling someone. 'I must have misplaced it. The maintenance guy let me in. Yeah. No. Jane is… Jane, sir,' she said.

It was obvious to them that she was speaking on the phone to Abbott. Lisbon closed her eyes and shook her head, hoping to hell that Fischer didn't see them.

'I think he's a bit leery of me since the island,' she was saying, sitting down on the bed. They could hear the springs as her body weight shifted. 'I got too close… _We_ got too close,' she said. 'It was very unprofessional of me.'

Lisbon tilted her head at Jane and he looked at her, his eyes telling her what he couldn't at the moment. It was true what Fischer was saying. Something did happen on that island. Something that was close and personal. Sex? A few dates? She closed her eyes away from him and bowed her head. She felt his hand on her shoulder, but she couldn't risk pushing it off and Fischer noticing, so she just kept it there.

'I spoke to the concierge, yes sir,' she went on. 'I have to join Cho to speak with another suspect, and then Jane and Lisbon are going to the spa to seek out some leads. Will do, sir. Thanks.'

They heard a beep as Fischer hung up. The bed springs groaned as she got up from the bed. They heard her go into the bathroom, shutting the door behind them. After a moment, they heard water running.

'I think she's taking a shower,' Lisbon told him, opening her eyes and pushing his hand off her shoulder, releasing her hand over his mouth. 'Let's get out of here.'

Lisbon got up and hastily put her bra and blouse back on before helping Jane up and zipping up his pants for him. They tiptoed around the bed, looking at the bathroom door, hoping it did not open. Lisbon opened the door very carefully, spilling herself out into the hall with Jane right behind her grumbling about his back.

'Let's get to this damn spa,' Lisbon told him irritably. 'And I really hope to hell they have a mud pit to throw your ass in!' she added, stomping away from him.

'Aw! Come on!' he called after her softly. 'That's not fair. Leaving a crippled man behind…'

He knew she was pissed at what Fischer had revealed. But she was thinking far, _far_ worse that what actually happened, if he had any idea. He'd settle that with her at the spa. For now, he really, _really_ needed that massage. He put a hand to his back, slouching as he walked forward in his walk of shame down the hall and to the waiting elevator, where a grumpy Lisbon was standing, refusing to look at him.

'Elevators. Brings back memories of the CBI, huh?' he joked.

'Shut _up_.'

'Okay.'

And the elevator doors closed on them; one in a shade of embarrassment and anger, the other in a shade of damage control and frustration.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Brookyln79 back again! Thanks again for all the lovely reviews, favs and follows for this story. Your positive words help motivate us all as we progress with this little light hearted romp.**

 **Mayzee is up again next chapter.**

* * *

Chapter 9 - Spa Treatment

Lisbon vigorously flicked through the glossy magazine as they sat quietly waiting in the luxury Niagara Niagara spa reception area. She hadn't said much after leaving Fischer's room and Jane knew better than to try push her when she was in one of her moods. He would wait until she had experienced the luxury spa treatments, hoping they would relax her before he broached the whole Fischer issue again.

The walls of the reception area were painted shades of dark red complimented with large soft beige furnishings. A few lit candles and incense sticks were dotted around the reception as calming whale music played softly over the tannoy system. It was your typical fancy spa atmosphere.

'Well, this is nice,' Jane said cheerfully trying to make small talk between them.

'I guess. If you like this sort of thing,' Lisbon mumbled grumpily, totally unimpressed by her surroundings.

'Everyone likes a bit of romantic luxury,' he remarked in a more seductive tone moving himself closer as they sat alone on the comfy couch.

'Why don't we just stay focused on the case for now,' Lisbon said a little sharply not taking her eyes off of the Vogue magazine she held in her hands. 'In fact I think it's best if we put _us_ aside for the time being, at least until we have solved this case and the killer is caught. A little less touching and more investigating so to speak.'

'Are you serious?' Jane asked when he heard the seriousness in her voice, hurt by the fact that all it took to derail things between them was one word from Fischer.

'Yes,' Lisbon replied softening her tone when she saw the insecurity flashing up in his eyes. 'I just think we should be more focused on catching the killer. It's not professional for us to be suddenly acting like a couple of randy teenagers. I don't even understand why we-'

'Because we are in love Teresa,' Jane stated firmly, cutting her off mid rant. Only fifteen minutes before there had been seconds away from making love for the first time until Fischer had shown up and ruined their moment. 'And we have both been waiting a very long time for this...'

Jane gently laced his fingers with hers. He wasn't about to let her start pushing him way especially as they had made such big strides in their personal relationship, even if it hadn't been in the physical sense, as of yet.

'Look, about what Fischer said upstairs-'

Before Jane could finish explaining, the door of the main spa swung open, making them both focus on the well dressed woman standing to greet them.

'Hello, welcome to Niagara Niagara spa. I am Heather Newell, manageress of this luxury little piece of heaven.'

Heather Newell stepped forward shaking both Lisbon and Jane's hands giving Lisbon's casual blouse and jeans look a quick disapproving once over. Heather was of slim build, strawberry blonde shoulder length hair, mid to late forties, immaculately dressed in an expensive Chanel suit with a decidedly upper class upbringing about her. Lisbon glanced out the corner of her eye to see Jane grinning mischievously as she introduced herself. Heather Newell had been listed as one of the potential suspects and Lisbon felt relieved that they may at least be able to do some proper investigating while they were having these unfamiliar luxury spa treatments together.

Heather swiped a golden key card down a lock slot that unleashed two frosted glass doors allowing them entry into the main spa.

'It's Mr and Mrs Jane. Correct?' Heather asked, checking the diary.

'Yes, my lovely wife and I have a few treatments booked. We are on our honeymoon so I booked the couple's package for us.'

'Oh. That's... lovely,' Heather replied a little less enthusiastically at the mention of the word honeymoon. 'Congratulations to you both. You should know we have won awards for some of our spa treatments so you are in safe hands.' Heather smiled widely nodding towards the award winning plaques behind her on the wall for all the visitors to see.

'Really? Safe hands? Because wasn't there just a murder up on the seventh floor only yesterday and we heard there was once a very gruesome murder down here at the spa also,' Jane said confidently but with an air of amusement to his voice, knowing full well his remark would wipe the fake smile of her snooty face. As if on cue Heather's cheesy fake smile fell suddenly making her open mouthed and all of fluster at Jane's directness.

'Uh...ah...I...Well we have the FBI handling that matter. As for that awful event here at the spa, that was a very very long time ago. I can assure you Mr Jane that nothing like that has ever happened in my spa again since. We've made strong changes to our security measures. Hence why the entrance doors of the spa are can only be opened with a swipe of special spa key card that only a few senior members of staff have access to. You and your lovely wife are perfectly safe here, I can promise you...'

Jane's grin widened as the woman nervously dropped the diary she was holding, sending several loose papers scattering across the floor behind her. Heather bent down to retrieve them, mumbling small curses under her breath at being so thrown by his remarks.

'Well, that explains why the killer never came back to the spa to kill again,' Lisbon whispered nodding her head towards the special key lock whilst Heather was still distracted on the floor.

There had to be a reason why the killer hadn't returned to the original crime scene and the new security access was clearly the answer.

'So...' Heather Newell said, straightening back up and looking more flustered and trying in vain to gain some self control. 'I see you have a couples massage first, followed by a private sauna and then a luxury champagne Jacuzzi.'

Lisbon rolled her eyes at Jane's very intimate choice of treatments for them both. Last thing she needed was to be locked naked in a hot steamy room with him especially if their morning activities in the shower were anything to go by. After nearly been caught having sex by Fischer she had made a firm promise that they would focus solely on the solving the case from now on and that's what she was planning to do. They may be a couple in love but she could control her sexual urges for now. Couldn't she?

'We won't be needing the sauna or the Jacuzzi today,' Lisbon said, ignoring the disappointed frown that was crossing Jane's Face. 'Just the massage. My husband has unfortunately pulled a muscle in his back so he needs that treatment more.'

'Oh, okay. Well that's fine. We can just extend the massage time for you. Donna your masseuse will be out to show you and Mr Jane to your private treatment room. I hope you both enjoy you time here at Niagara spa and I hope that you will return for more luxury treatments before your trip is over. Twenty five percent off for returning guests. That includes hair and makeovers too,' Heather said, aiming her little her dig towards Lisbon in an over patronising voice. Then she nodded her goodbyes before walking through her office door leaving them alone again.

'So what do think? Lisbon asked, as Jane groaned in agony lowering himself stiffly down into a nearby armchair as Lisbon sat beside him.

'Well I think the sauna would have been a nice-'

'Not that! Heather Newell. Did you get a good read on her?' Lisbon asked, sighing in frustration.

'Hmm, I would guess she is definitely hiding something related to the murders.'

'Really? You think she is involved somehow?'

'Maybe. When I brought the original murders up she became even more flustered and wouldn't maintain any eye contact. A sure sign of guilt,' Jane replied, rubbing his back.

'Yes, but do you think she is our killer?' Lisbon asked curiously, not sure if she got a vibe of psychopathic killer from the stuck-up business woman.

'Well she's a bit of snob and a ruthless career woman,' Jane said swivelling his head around looking around the fancy surroundings. 'But a psychopathic killer? I'm not sure.'

Jane lightly tapped his finger against his lips as he considered Heather Newell for a few moments. While she didn't come across as the serial killer type on face value Jane had learned a long time ago never to rule anyone out completely right away. He would have to push a few more of the woman's buttons to see her true colours. As Jane was pondering on Heather, Lisbon picked up the complete list of treatments offered in the spa from the table beside her. After perusing it she said, 'I don't see daisies being used in any of the treatments offered here. Or at least they're not specifically mentioned as being used.'

'Interesting. Then it would appear the killer brings them from outside the complex to lay at the scene of the murders.'

'But why?' Lisbon prodded.

'Well that's the sixty four thousand dollar question, isn't it, my dear?'

'Mr and Mrs Jane?'

Lisbon and Jane looked around to be greeted by an attractive brunette dressed in a smart black spa uniform.

'Yes, that's us,' Jane said cheerfully pushing against the armrests of the chair to lever himself up but stopped by Lisbon hand's as it forcefully pulled him back down again, eliciting a moan from him as the muscle in his back strained once more.

'Hang on, what about Heather Newell?' Lisbon whispered ignoring the pain he was in.

Wincing and shooting her a dirty look he replied, 'Relax Lisbon, we have plenty of time. We will speak to her again before we leave, first let's have this glorious massage. Ahhhh!' Jane cried out in agony as he attempted to stand up again not getting very far as his back protested yet again.

* * *

Ten minutes later Lisbon exited the ensuite shower room dressed only in a luxury soft white towel. She rubbed her hands up and down her arms self consciously as she wasn't used to being so naked in public.

Jane was leaning against one of the massage beds dressed in a fluffy white Niagara dressing gown looking even sexier than he normally did. His face and the low V of chest looked extremely tanned in comparison to the bright white gown. Lisbon pulled her own towel upwards when she caught him slyly checking out her cleavage. She was determined to keep things more professional between them whilst working this case even if she could feel her blood pressure rising at the sight of a very sexy half naked Patrick Jane.

'Where's Donna?' Lisbon enquired leaning against the massage bed opposite his. Jane knew Lisbon wasn't used to this sort of luxury spa activity. Working as cop didn't afford her much spare time to do little extravagant treats like this and any available free time she did have, he knew she would rather spend down at the shooting range.

'Lisbon. Try to relax, please. This is supposed to be a very enjoyable experience. There's nothing to be embarrassed about, these people are professionals. All you need to do is lie down on the bed and let them do their job. By the end of this session I can guarantee you will be feeling so much better for it.'

Lisbon raised a doubtful eyebrow, not at all convinced she would feel that way after having a total stranger rubbing their hands all over her half naked body. The door of the treatment room opened revealing Donna the masseuse carrying several different bottles of expensive oils in her arms.

'So, Mr and Mrs Jane, we have sweet almond, lavender, peppermint or tea tree oil as a choice for your full body massage. Would you like to choose one? Or are you happy for us to do so?'

'Ah, lovely. I will have the sweet almond oil,' Jane said excitably taking the half filled bottle out of the woman's hands to examine and smell it.

'I don't mind which, you can choose,' Lisbon replied awkwardly, feeling this luxury massage was a little bit pretentious for her liking. 'So what happens now? You give a massage to my husband, then me?'

'Oh no, in couples' massage there are two of us applying the treatment. You and your husband will lie down on the beds and our aim is to give you both a relaxing sensual massage. By the time you leave here you will hopefully feel stress free and fully relaxed. My colleague Lesley will be here soon. In fact Lesley is most popular among our hotel guests so you're in very good hands I assure you, Mrs Jane.'

'See Teresa? I am sure Donna and her lovely colleague will do a great job, all you have to do is lie down and...Who are you!' Jane asked sharply, dropping his happy carefree demeanour as the infamous Lesley entered into the treatment room.

Leslie turned out to be a very tall, very good looking, well tanned muscled beefcake of a man and it was blatantly obvious to everyone why he was such a popular hit with the clients of the spa.

'Hi, I'm Les,' the younger man said, holding his hand out politely for Jane to shake. Jane reluctantly shook the man's hand, seeing how large Les's were compared to his own. He had imaged this _Lesley_ to be a young woman like Donna, not some tall good looking athletic muscle bound model about to rub his large manly hands over Teresa's naked body.

'Hi, I am Teresa,' Lisbon said warmly, ignoring Jane's annoyed glances at the young man. Lisbon glanced her head away unable to stop a small satisfied grin appear when she saw how unimpressed Jane was with the sight of her personal masseur.

Using this knowledge and Les' attractive attributes to her advantage she allowed the beefcake to help her lie down on the massage bed before discreetly slipping her towel down her torso slightly once she was securely lying on her front.

'Do you know what? I think you're right, Patrick. I think I will feel so much better after this,' she said chuckling seeing the flash of horror on Jane's face as Les helped lower her towel down her body further.

* * *

Twenty minutes later after having had to listen to Lisbon's small satisfied moans as Les worked his magic on her tense muscles, Jane decided he needed to put an end to it. Jane wasn't normally a jealous type of guy but watching this man touch Lisbon in places he hadn't even had the pleasure of doing so yet was riling him up.

'Right, well I think we are both done,' Jane said, sitting up as he watched Leslie's giant man hands run down the sleek contours of Lisbon's well oiled back. Unfortunately he had spent most of his own massage trying to catch glimpses of Lisbon and the beefcake rather than relaxing or reaping the benefits of his own massage that Donna was giving him. Although he supposed she had done him some good. He could at least sit up now without moaning.

'My wife and I have a very romantic afternoon planned and we need to get on,' he said firmly wrapping his fluffy dressing gown back around him, practically jumping off the bed. Eventually Lisbon sleepily lifted her head up from the hole in the massage table as she felt the warmth of Les's masculine hands leave her back. 'Oh, is our sixty minutes up already? That went so quickly. But I do feel so much better and more relaxed. Thank you Les.'

* * *

Jane waited for the two spa employees to leave the room before speaking again. 'Well I have had better massages in my time,' Jane snipped a little bitterly.

'Well, Les definitely seems to have the magic touch,' Lisbon said smoothly as she stretched her arms upwards knowing full well why Jane had cut their spa treatment short.

'Hmm, well if I was a mentalist I would think you were trying to make me jealous Agent Lisbon,' Jane grinned at her, knowing that was what she was actually doing and succeeding. Pulling lightly on the towel wrapped around her he moved her slowly into his arms.

'Well my back is feeling a little better I guess. Anyway, I bet I can do a better job than that meat head, you just need to let me prove it,' Jane whispered, placing a long soft kiss to her lips becoming very aware of how naked they both were under the plush cotton of their robe and towel. He was grateful to discover that the beefcake's magic massage had certainly relaxed Lisbon so much that she had seemed to have momentarily forgotten about the no touching rules she wanted them to follow.

'Jane, what happened between you and Fischer on the island?' Lisbon asked softly as he began placing kisses along her jaw.

Jane sighed, hoping that she had somehow forgotten about that part too. 'It was nothing Teresa.'

'Well it can't have been nothing. She said you two got...close?'

'It's not in the way you are imagining.'

'No?'

'No,' Jane stated firmly, taking a step backwards gripping her shoulders so she could look him directly in the eye to see he was telling the truth.

'So what did happen then?'

'Well...we had dinner together and then we went dancing and-'

'You went on a date?' Lisbon asked, a little taken back by his answer. Thinking something and actually knowing it was two completely different things. She knew she had no right to say anything about what he did with his life back then. He had been a free man and Fischer was free woman but now knowing he and Fischer had been on a date made her feel somewhat uneasy.

'Well...I don't think I'd call it a date,' Jane said, trying to play it down after seeing her initial shock to his honest confession.

'Dinner and dancing is a date, Jane. I know you have been out the game for a while but trust me that type of thing is still classed as a date even these days,' Lisbon said, a little put out.

Before Jane could explain any more there was a short loud rap on the outside of door. The next thing Heather Newell eagerly popped her head inside. 'Hello again, not interrupting am I? Donna and Les said you had cut the massage time short, is everything alright?'

'Well-' Jane started to say.

'It was fine,' Lisbon interrupted, seeing Jane was going to say something to get Les into trouble or even worse, fired. 'Both staff were very professional and very good. We have no complaints. Something else has unfortunately come up and we needed to cut it short. That's all.'

'Oh, oh well that's good to hear,' Heather said obviously relieved, replacing her false customer service smile back on her face. 'You can rebook at the reception desk and have the rest of your massage another time, if you would like.'

'We will, thank you,' Lisbon said, heading into the ensuite shower room to get redressed.

'Heather, what are you hiding?' Jane asked directly, biting into a complimentary apple from the nearby fruit basket.

'Excuse me?' Heather replied, making both her and Lisbon pause in the doorway, Heather's eyes widening in shock at his statement.

'Earlier when I asked you about the murders you showed clear signs of guilt. Now, whilst it's true that most psychopathic killers don't show signs of guilt for their actions I am still curious to your frantic reaction to my questioning. It tells me you know more than you are letting on. So now I am wondering if you are an accomplice in these murders at the Niagara resort.'

'What! No! I know nothing... How dare you? Who are you?'

'You're lying Heather,' Jane stated, tilting his head at the panicked stricken woman and casually crunching into the delicious apple again.

'I swear. I know nothing,' Heather replied sweating profusely, her face suddenly becoming blotchy red with embarrassment and shame.

'Okay, well my wife here has a close friend at the FBI and we have a vested interest in this new murder case as we were acquaintances of the recent victims. But I think we will ask the Feds to come down here to the spa again and reinvestigate the original murders. I mean if you have nothing hide...?'

'Jane...' Lisbon mumbled quietly, afraid he was giving away too much about their operation.

'No, please. I beg you. It won't look good for business if the spa has the Feds running all over this place too,' Heather said, closing the door behind her in defeat. 'I knew this would happen one day. I told him we should have told the truth years ago. But we both knew we would lose our jobs. It's all my fault-'

'Tell the truth about what?' Lisbon asked, forgetting she wasn't supposed be acting like a cop and wondering if they were about to get a real confession and wrapping the case up so easily.

'The day of the murders, the first murders I mean ... I wasn't at the reception desk like I told the police officers I was. I was... I was...in the kitchen store room with Eugene.' Heather squeaked tearfully into a tissue. 'That's how the killer got into the spa unseen, I wasn't at the reception desk like I should have been. I lied. In fact I was with Eugene when most of all the murders happened here.'

'Eugene? Eugene Smith? The chef?' Lisbon asked, a little stunned by Heather's secret confession.

'Yes,' Heather replied, wiping her nose, confused to how Mrs Jane knew her lover. 'We meet up most weeks, when the kitchen is closed or empty.'

'I'm assuming it's not for a stock take,' Jane said wiggling his eyes playfully at both Lisbon and Heather.

'Oh. You mean...' Lisbon trailed off as the image of that unlikely pairing suddenly entered her mind.

'Yes. It's just a sexual arrangement. I am not proud of it or myself,' Heather stated, anxiously fiddling with her large diamond wedding ring on her finger. 'But...but-'

'But he's a bad boy with a dangerous rep and you get an excited thrill from sneaking around. Plus he satisfies you sexually, unlike your husband does. Am I right?' Jane said calmly throwing the rest of apple core into a trash can and placing both his hands in his dressing gown's pockets watching Heather's reactions closely.

'Please, I beg you both; you won't say anything to FBI? I mean if my husband John found out I would lose everything. My marriage. The spa. I have worked so hard to get this spa to where it is after that horrible murder.'

'Who is your husband?' Lisbon asked, not fully understanding Heather's fear or worries.

'John Sheridan. The Niagara Niagara hotel and resort manager.'

Both Jane and Lisbon glanced towards each other remembering that he too was named on the FBI suspect list. Could he be the serial killer? Seeking revenge on innocent couples for his wife's wrong doing?

'We have been married for seventeen years but John gave up on me and our sex life years ago. Eugene he is...he is different, despite his large scary looks he is actually very sweet...and a real man,' Heather said ending her statement with real conviction dabbing her eyes dry.

'Well, I am sure he is. I mean what well bred woman doesn't want to be taken roughly in the condiments' cupboard,' Jane quipped, enjoying taking the snotty nosed woman down a peg or two.

Lisbon bit her bottom trying her hardest to suppress her own laughter.

Heather Newell eyed Jane angrily, not impressed at being the butt of the joke. Jane moved a step nearer to the sobbing woman who was still slumped up against the treatment room door.

'I tell you what Heather, if you give my wife and I free spa treatments during our stay we won't grass you up to the Feds about lying and giving false alibis. What do you say?'

'Are you blackmailing me, Mr Jane?' Heather asked.

'Well blackmail is such a nasty word. I like to see it as more of coming to a personal arrangement.'

Heather looked anxiously between the couple, unsure if she should take the strange man's word but realised she had no choice in the matter. 'Fine. Just let my reception girl know what you want and when.' With that Heather Newell stormed out of the massage treatment room.

'What? Jane said innocently. 'Oh, don't look like at me that, I just got us a free luxury spa week,' Jane said as Lisbon shook her head in annoyance at his underhanded antics.

'She has been giving false alibis to the police, Jane, just to hide her sordid little affair. Her lies probably jeopardised the first murder investigation.'

'Meh, so she told a few lies. Local cops should have picked up on it back then. Beside this proves that she isn't the killer and eliminates her and Eugene off the suspect list too. That's practically two for the price of one!'

'Come on, let's get dressed and head upstairs to inform Wylie,' Lisbon replied, secretly impressed they had at least managed to cross two suspects off the list since being here. 'We definitely need to speak to this John Sheridan, the hotel manager. Heather Newell might not be the Niagara killer but her husband might just be.'

* * *

After bringing Wylie up to date with their progress, Jane and Lisbon made their way into the hotel lounge to grab a cup of tea and coffee. As Lisbon headed over to the coffee counter to pour herself a large black coffee Jane ran into Fischer and Cho exiting the room. Making sure there weren't many guests or staff members to witness their meet, he quickly wrapped his arms Fischer pulling her into another tight bear hug, totally unaware he was actually slipping her key card back into her jacket pocket.

'Good to see you again Kim,' Jane said a little mockingly, finally releasing her from his grip before swiftly moving around the pair towards the tea refreshment area to make himself a cup.

Fischer stood a little bewildered by Jane's actions whilst Cho just gave a slight shake of his head to show he also had no idea what Jane's game was. She was feeling very confused by his sudden physical embraces towards her. That was twice he had hugged her now. She had thought that he was still angry at her deceiving him back on the island but maybe he had decided to let that matter finally drop and was taking a different route to try and build bridges in their new relationship.

She could openly admit she had been attracted to Jane on the island. She certainly would have taken their relationship a lot further that night if he had wanted to. Sneakily she glanced back at Jane across the room whilst he made himself a cup of tea. The thought that, maybe if he was ready to forgive and forget and they could possibly pick up where they left off on the island entered her mind but she quickly dismissed that, pushing that idea aside. She was here to solve a case, not start up a romantic relationship with her new FBI consultant. She knew she held some feelings for him, but it was just a crush, nothing she couldn't handle.

Acknowledging she was probably reading far too much into Jane's motives she focused back on Cho who was now talking on his cell phone chatting to Wylie about and Jane and Lisbon's recent encounter with Heather Newell.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Hello, mayzee back again with another installment. I've been writing a lot of drama and angst in my other stories lately so decided to cheer myself up by attempting a humorous chapter with this one. It becomes increasingly ridiculous...bordering on farcical...and more than likely OOC. But I hope it brings you a little joy and that you read it with a light heart, keeping all that in mind.  
**

 **The wonderful Consulting Patrick Jane is up next...**

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Chapter 10 - Shopping, Stripping & Stopping

Lisbon smiled as she sipped her coffee in the lounge as Jane sat beside her drinking his tea. Between a rather excellent massage and a strong coffee in her hands she was feeling more relaxed than she had in years. And she had to admit that seeing Jane jealous of her masseur topped off the last hour with a cherry on top.

'You never did finish telling me what happened when you went on your date with Fischer,' she said calmly.

He relaxed into the soft cushions of the couch they sat on and draped an arm around her shoulder, pleased that she seemed much more comfortable in recognising how he felt about her and not dwelling on unnecessary petty jealousy any longer. He wanted to make sure it stayed that way. In fact, he could probably do with taking a leaf out of her book himself after his reaction to Les at the spa.

'There's really nothing much else to tell,' he replied, his fingers ghosting over her shoulder. He pecked her cheek and moaned lightly, changing the subject swiftly, 'Hmm, you smell divine. Peppermint oil was a good choice for you.' He pecked her earlobe. 'Even if it was applied by a man ten years my junior.'

She laughed softly and turned her head, kissing him gently. 'Only ten? After this morning I'm beginning to wonder just how old you really are, creaky,' she joked.

'Just a little teething problem I assure you, my dear. It's been a while since I've done any heavy lifting,' he chuckled.

As expected he received a whack on his arm for his remark. He drew her into his embrace a little more. 'I'm pleased you've relaxed your no touching rules.'

'Well it's only because we're in public. We have to keep up the air of a honeymooning couple, don't we?' she smiled, resting her head on his shoulder.

'Well for future reference I'd prefer a soft caress from you than a thump.' He kissed the top of her head. After a second he added, 'Teresa, have you considered just how unfair this situation is? I mean here we are, able and encouraged to flaunt our affection to all and sundry publicly but confined to our room we have to behave like monks. Or a nun in your case.'

He shook his head as Lisbon began to giggle. 'It's quite funny when you put it that way.'

'Not funny, Lisbon. Not one bit funny,' he replied but then chortled a little at the absurd situation they were in. 'I have to say the condiments cupboard is looking a lot more appealing every minute.'

'How romantic of you,' she laughed. 'Okay,' she added with more focus, straightening up, 'John Sheridan then? What's the plan?'

'Oh, it's up to me as usual is it?' he smiled.

'Well we both know that you'll want to get a reaction from him to get a read most probably. And if that involves making him mad then it's right up your alley. I'd hate to deny you that pleasure.' She paused, grinned. 'Especially when you've been denied so much already today.'

He rolled his eyes and pecked her lips. 'I don't need reminding. My sore back is a constant reminder.'

'I thought it felt better?'

'It did after the massage but it's starting to seize up again now I've sat down. But I'm sure I'll be right as rain by morning.'

She raised herself from the couch, 'Come on then old man, let's talk to this guy then you can have your afternoon nap.'

* * *

Lilly was still on reception when they approached and she bristled immediately when she recognised the brash couple from earlier. Politely, 'Mr. & Mrs. Jane. How can I be of some help this time?'

'We need to speak to the Manager,' Jane said immediately, stony faced. 'So you can take that fake smile off your face and get him for us.'

Lilly baulked at his brusqueness, 'Um...well if you could perhaps tell me the problem first-'

Rudely, 'So I have to repeat myself? I think not, young lady. Now move that poky little ass of yours and get him for us.'

Lilly reddened immediately. 'You...you can't talk to me like that!' she said after a pause to find her voice.

'Oh? Or what?' Jane replied, raising an eyebrow.

'Or...or I'll speak to the Manager about you!' Lilly huffed. As soon as the words were out of her mouth she realised she'd just been cornered into giving Jane exactly what he wanted.

Jane grinned immediately. 'There you go, Lilly.' Appropriately condescending to her he added, 'Now, move along then.' He gestured for her to go behind the door to her back where he assumed the Manager's office lay.

As Lilly disappeared Lisbon stared at him wide eyed. 'Jeez, Jane, did you have to go over the top like that with her? I thought we already ruled her out as a suspect.'

'We have but the answer is I absolutely did have to, Lisbon. Two aims. One, it gets us a meeting with Sheridan tout de suite and two, it gives our little friend there something to complain to her new fiancé about.'

Lisbon began to smile. 'Oh, so Henderson will hear about your rant at his fiancée and if he's the killer then-'

'It might spur him on to come after us. Precisely. Worth a shot.'

'We need to find out what Fischer discovered about him by the way. Henderson I mean-'

'Shh,' Jane interrupted as a sullen faced Lilly reappeared before them. Barely civil she said, 'Mr Sheridan will see you in his office. Please come this way.'

She led them behind the reception desk and into the office behind where a man in his mid fifties with greased back dyed black hair rose to his feet. He was of medium build, wore a freshly pressed black pinstriped suit, red polka dotted tie and had a goatee. He reminded Lisbon of a well groomed gangster from a Jimmy Cagney movie, almost expecting him to be wearing spats on his feet.

'Mr. Jane, Mrs. Jane I presume,' he said smoothly, nodding for Lilly to make her exit. As she closed the door behind her he continued, 'Please do take a seat,' nodding towards the two chairs that sat opposite his desk.

'I'll stand, thanks,' Jane said gruffly. While he wanted to give the impression of a man in a hurry he also didn't want to have to be helped off the chair should his back give out again thus blowing any chance of retaining the upper hand. As Lisbon took a seat opposite him Sheridan asked, 'So, what appears to be the trouble?'

'Well my wife and I want to know what's being done about the Summers' murders of course,' Jane replied, as if it was obvious.

The other man shifted uncomfortably in his chair. 'Well the FBI is investigating that terrible crime. They have their best people on it I believe. And we've recently installed new security cameras-'

'Well they sure as hell didn't do Gina and Mike any good, did they?' Lisbon cut in. 'How come the perpetrator hasn't been caught yet then?'

He swallowed nervously. 'Um...well...they were switched off at the time...' he muttered. He cleared his throat, 'Look, I'm sorry but I can't say anymore than that to hotel guests. I've said too much already. Please take my word that all my staff are cooperating with the authorities to bring this terrible killer to justice.'

Jane responded, 'I have to say the thought of a killer running wild around here killing honeymooners is putting a severe dampener on our own.'

'You're on honeymoon?' Sheridan asked, taking more notice of Jane. 'Why how wonderful for you both. I had no idea. Then I'm doubly sorry.'

As the manager fished in his desk drawer Lisbon narrowed her eyes at Jane, silently asking him if Sheridan was actually unaware of that fact or was just acting surprised. He shook his head quickly back at her, his eyes telling her that he was genuinely surprised. A few moments later Sheridan produced two pieces of card, offering them to Lisbon across the desk. 'Tickets to our black tie event tomorrow night. Complimentary of course. A dazzling couple like yourselves will brighten up the event, bring a little glamour to the dance floor.'

Lisbon noticed Sheridan stare at Jane when he said the word 'dazzling' and his eyes linger on her pretend husband as he completed the sentence. Her eyes flicked to Jane in a question but he ignored her and instead lifted the cards from the desk, suddenly smiling warmly at Sheridan. 'Well that is kind of you...?'

'John, please,' the other man said, fumbling with a pen on his desk.

'John,' Jane nodded. 'But I'm afraid my wife and I didn't pack for such an event.'

After a slight pause Sheridan began to write a note. He smiled a toothy grin at Jane. 'Then I insist you rent a tuxedo at the hotel's expense. Ask for Gareth at the dress shop, he'll fit you out, Mr. Jane. Just give him this note from me.' As he passed the note he added, 'And might I suggest a dark single breasted fit would look outstanding on a man with your...physique.'

Jane continued to smile effortlessly at the other man. 'Why thank you, John. I'm pleased we could come to a civilised arrangement after all. And that the hotel is in obviously such good hands.'

A blush rose on the other man's cheeks.

'And for my wife?' Jane added, barely missing a beat.

Sheridan blinked and stuttered, glancing at Lisbon. 'Oh yes of course...your wife...um...well the same goes for her of course.' He turned his full attention to Lisbon. 'It would be our pleasure, Mrs. Jane, naturally. You're...you're a lucky woman,' he added, a little wistfully.

* * *

As they exited the office and entered the elevator Lisbon shook her head. 'I wasn't imagining that, was I?'

Jane grinned, 'Nope.'

'So, the manager, who is married...is gay?'

'It would appear so. Either that or my devilish good looks have turned a straight man.'

'Yeah, I think I'll stick with gay,' Lisbon said nonchalantly, pressing their floor button.

'Certainly explains the lack of a sex life with Heather,' Jane replied.

'But why stay together if he is?'

'Appearances most probably.'

'In this day and age? Who cares?'

'Well it could be for monetary reasons too. Maybe doesn't want a costly divorce. And I don't think his wife's aware. Or if she is she's in total denial about it. And even if she does know she's a snob in any case. Maybe doesn't want the embarrassment of it coming out that their marriage is a sham. Maybe they both don't. Anyway, not really our business. Main thing is he's not the killer.'

'Why? Because he's gay?' she smirked, raising an eyebrow. 'Gay people are capable of murder too, Jane,' she joked.

'Yeah, I am aware of that,' he said, rolling his eyes, 'He's not the killer because he's terrified of losing his job. I mean...he doesn't have much else in his life. Certainly not his wife. No photographs of children on his desk so they obviously didn't go down that route before things...stagnated. Job is what he lives for. There's no way he'd put that in jeopardy. And if he did have some kind of psychopathic streak he'd never let it loose in his beloved hotel.'

'So perhaps that gives the killer motive? Or at least why he's killing here and not somewhere else. Trying to push Sheridan out?'

'Could be.'

'I feel sorry for him,' she remarked. 'It's a lonely life when all you have is work.'

He put his arms loosely around her waist, kissed her softly, 'Yeah, it certainly is.'

* * *

As they entered their room Jane rolled his eyes at the camera overhead and yawned, rubbing his back. It had been an eventful morning and since romance was out a little siesta sounded like an exceedingly appealing option. He lay on the bed as Lisbon got her phone out, giving Fischer an update on progress. A few minutes later she put it away and wandered over to the window and gazed at the Falls, smiling as she remembered their first kiss there. 'Fischer says she couldn't get much from the concierge. Wants us to talk to him tomorrow.'

'Hmm, figures,' he replied, his eyes closed and his hands resting peacefully on his stomach.

'Chavez has been ruled out of last night's murders too. Security camera picked him up delivering room service to a couple on the fourth floor. They've verified it too.'

'Another one down then,' he mumbled. 'Good.'

'Hmm. Background checks on Kevin Nichols came through. He spent some time in juvy but nothing after that.'

'Interesting. We'll have to make a point to talk to him soon.'

She came to stand beside him. 'Are you really going to sleep?' she said, prodding his chest.

He opened his eyes lazily. 'Unless you're willing to use your Glock on that camera then I can't think of any better options presently. Just a catnap I promise.'

Her fingers on his chest she drew a lazy pattern on it, her back obscuring the camera's view. 'Is your back really okay?' she asked softly.

'I'll be fine, Teresa,' he smiled, rubbing her fingertips.

'Then I think I'll go and choose a dress for the ball tomorrow night. Might as well get it over with.'

'I look forward to seeing it,' he smiled seductively. 'I'm quite an easy fit; I'll pick out my tux in the morning.'

After she left the room Jane picked up his phone and called Wylie. 'Wylie, I need a favour...'

* * *

She felt a little like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman as she entered the designer boutique of the hotel complex. But then again perhaps not. While Ms Roberts was only too happy to have attendants pander to her Lisbon detested shopping for this kind of outfit and she palmed anyone off who came near her as she wandered around the store. She should have had Jane pick out her dress like he had with the gorgeous red one he'd bought her. Although since his taste seemed to have her encased in something a little snug fitting she figured it might be better to choose a ball gown herself. For a few minutes she strolled around from rack to rack, running her hand over various fabrics and cuts. Just to make some kind of choice she saw a gold high collared dress she thought might look nice and held it up against her. She tilted her head from side to side as she gazed in the mirror. She rolled her eyes and decided to try it on, hoping it would appear better on.

Five minutes later she stared at the reflection opposite her.

It did not appear better on.

Instead it made her look like a startled goldfish. Sighing in frustration she redressed and left the dress back, giving herself another five minutes before she would admit defeat and drag Jane out of bed to help her. As she came across a cream lace dress she did what she did before and held it up against her frame. When a head suddenly appeared in the mirror behind her she let out a little shriek of surprise.

She turned and found Wylie grinning at her. 'Can I help you, ma'am,' he smiled.

'Wylie!' she whispered. 'You scared the crap out of me. What are you doing here?!'

'Jane says you might need some help.'

'From you?' she asked incredulously. 'Since when are you a fashionista?'

'Cho's taught me a few things. I'd have asked him but he's busy with the case. Don't worry, I know about cuts, lines and so on-'

'Hang on a minute. Since when does Cho know anything about fashion?'

He frowned, 'His mother of course. She could run up a designer gown before breakfast.'

She mirrored his frown. 'I...I never knew that,' she admitted. 'How did you?'

'I asked what his parents did,' he replied cheerfully. 'How else?'

She nodded, slightly ashamed she'd never thought to take the trouble herself all these years. Warming more to her new younger colleague she smiled appreciatively. 'Okay, I could use the help.'

* * *

After he placed three gowns in her hand he waited outside the dressing room as she tried them on, chatting amiably to her. 'So, you and Jane have worked together a long time,' he said.

'Yeah, and Cho,' she replied, zipping up a black velvet sleeveless dress.

'I've never worked with anyone like him. Or Cho come to that,' he said to the curtain.

She laughed softly, smoothing down the fabric. 'Yeah, they're both unique in their own ways. You'll get used to it. Jane likes you. So does Cho. So you're more than halfway there.'

She drew the curtain across and walked out. Wylie's almost incessant smile narrowed into a contemplative look as he studied the dress on her. 'Hmm. Not bad. You look a little like Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's.'

'O...kay,' Lisbon replied, frowning, 'Is that a good thing?'

He tilted his head from side to side. 'Well you look sophisticated certainly but...well...' He swallowed nervously.

'Just spit it out, Wylie.'

'Well...um.' He glanced at her chest area quickly, blushing immediately. 'Well...maybe the dark purple dress might better accentuate your...eyes?' he tried with a suitably embarrassed smile.

'Oh god,' she said rolling her eyes as she went back into the cubicle.

She dressed in the dark purple dress Wylie had chosen for her, taking off her bra so she could see how it might look on her better. She'd need to invest in a strapless one if she was going to wear it. Her shoulders bare the bodice fitted perfectly around her torso, a soft V in the neckline enhancing her cleavage sexily but still moderately discreetly. Flowing chiffon draped over a slightly curving satin underskirt completed the look. She smiled as she stared at herself. Her waist pinched in by the sturdy bodice it gave her a hell of an hourglass figure even she had to admit. Her heart raced at the thought of Jane seeing it on her. She knew he'd love it and imagined his eyes dark with desire when they danced the following evening. She grinned and shook her head. What the hell was happening to her that his opinion on what she wore mattered? And since when did she like dressing up? The words of an old song ran through her head. _It must be love, love, love..._

'How's it going?' Wylie asked from the other side of the curtain.

'I think this is the one,' she smiled, drawing it back for him to see.

When Wylie's eyes fell to her chest once again she laughed softly. 'Hey,' she reprimanded softly. 'Up here.'

Red again he stammered as he quickly moved his eyes from her décolletage to her face, 'Sorry...wow...Lisbon you look incredible.'

'I do, don't I?' she grinned.

'Jane's going to love it,' he added.

'You think?' she smiled. Then she remembered she was supposed to be only acting like Jane's wife. She changed her expression to a neutral one quickly. 'I mean...it doesn't really matter if he does...it's just an act we're putting on, Wylie.'

He nodded slowly, a knowing smile on his lips. 'Of course...of course.'

As she went to get changed she mentally made a note to get some shoes to match. She might as well go the whole way if she was going to dress up. And maybe some lingerie...She couldn't remember the last time she'd bought something sexy. Even if they couldn't do anything about it she could drive him wild. Payback for all the times he'd wound her up over the years.

Her mind elsewhere she began to unzip the dress absentmindedly. The zip stopped midway down her back. She tutted and yanked it again. Nothing. 'Oh, crap,' she mumbled as she felt around the back. She felt a bulge of material that must have got caught in the zipper. After a few more seconds of trying it she whispered, 'Wylie! You still out there!'

'Yeah,' he muttered, 'Just playing a game on my phone.'

'Get in here!'

'Sorry, what did you say?' he asked, his voice a little higher than normal.

Urgently, 'You heard me. Get in here now. I need you.'

Wylie almost dropped his phone. His mouth went dry. 'Um...I don't think...'

'My dress is caught on my zipper. I need you to help me unzip it.'

'Maybe I could get one of the ladies-'

Suddenly an arm came out of the dressing cubicle and a hand pulled him inside roughly. 'Oh for god's sake, Wylie,' Lisbon fumed. 'Just help me out of this thing.' She turned her back to him pointing at the zipper. 'But don't rip it or I'll kill you with my bare hands.'

He looked around the cramped enclosure, wondering if he could make a run for it. From being so cheerful, feminine and girlish one moment Lisbon had suddenly turned into the bulldog he had been warned about. He doubted her threat was all talk.

'Don't get on her wrong side,' had been Jane's advice the first day he'd started working on their team. 'I'm one of few who can talk her round.' He'd tilted his head, grimaced slightly, 'Well usually.' Cho had nodded seriously at his side in consent as the three men drank their beverages in the FBI's break room.

But here he was now in the belly of the beast as it were.

'Wylie!' she bellowed in a whisper.

'Right,' he said, wishing he had a bottle of water to quench his thirst. 'Right,' he said again, clearing his throat. He rubbed his sweaty palms on his trousers before he bent down to take a closer look. 'Yeah, it's caught all right,' he confirmed.

'I know that. Now, ease it free.'

'Maybe I really should get a woman to help-'

'Oh for god's sake Wylie grow a pair. Pretend I'm your mother if that helps.'

'Well that would be a little difficult to imagine. She doesn't quite have your...figure...You see she's a little...larger than you. Not her fault...glandular problem...makes her very self conscious really. Shame as-'

'Just get on with it, will you?!' she interjected to put an end to his stammering.

His fingers found the zipper finally and he began to nudge it gently. 'Um...nothing. It's really caught in there good.'

Unbeknown to them a small crowd of shoppers had gathered around their cubicle as theiy raised their voices in continuing to try to free the dress.

'Can you wiggle it?' Lisbon asked, breathing heavily.

'Yeah, I'm trying but it won't budge.'

'Well try harder.'

He panted a little as he tried to release the fabric. 'God it's really stuck tight.'

'Hang on, let me bend over more, see if that gives you more room to release it.' A second later, 'Any better?'

Now Wylie had got over his initial awkwardness in helping Lisbon out of a dress he was focusing on it like a puzzle he wanted to solve. 'A little. Just let me try to get a firm grip and then pull yourself forward.'

'Okay, here goes.'

'Yes! Got it out!' he said excitably.

'You didn't rip it, did you?' Lisbon asked, releasing a breath.

'No, we're good.'

She turned immediately to him and hugged him. 'Thanks Wylie. Sorry I was a little rough on you.'

'Oh...that's okay,' he replied, 'Just glad I could help you out in your hour of need.'

As she released him the unzipped dress slipped a few inches and Wylie witnessed a topless Lisbon for a few seconds until she realised. She grabbed the material back up as he stared wide eyed and open mouthed at the revelation he'd just seen. Both of them blushing furiously at her wardrobe malfunction she ushered him out of the dressing room, barely able to meet each other's eyes.

When she exited the cubicle the throng of people had dispersed but an older woman in her sixties shot her a withering look. 'Can't you book a room?! That poor young man,' she said, shaking her head.

It was only when Lisbon was paying for the shoes and underwear she'd picked out and waiting for her dress purchase to be put on the hotel's account that she replayed the conversation she and Wylie had in the cubicle. From being thoroughly shamefaced moments before she began to smile at how it had been misinterpreted, finding the funny side to it.

There was no sign of Wylie as she exited the store. She didn't want him to feel awkward around her so picked up her phone and called him. 'I'm so sorry,' he said before she got a word in.

'It's fine,' she laughed. 'I hope you enjoyed the show.'

'Um-'

'I wasn't actually looking for a response, Wylie.'

'Oh...okay. Good. If there's something I can do though to make it up to you-'

'Actually there is,' she grinned.

* * *

She slid the keycard into her suite door finding Jane just where she left him, snoring softly as he lay on the bed. Biting her lip she glanced at the camera and found the red light was no longer blinking as she had expected. She hung her new dress up and toed off her shoes. She took the other two boxes she'd brought in with her into the bathroom quietly, arriving back in the bedroom a few minutes later. Just to be on the safe side she hung a towel over the camera as an extra precaution.

'Jane,' she whispered at his side, surprised he hadn't stirred even though she'd tried to be quiet.

'Jane,' she said a little louder.

He snorted and opened his eyes slowly. He blinked twice rapidly as the vision in front of his eyes came into better focus. Lisbon was standing in a deep purple lace bra and matching panties, black stiletto heels completing the look.

'What do you think?' she smiled, licking her lips.

He opened his mouth and blinked again, his pupils dilating instantly. Then his eyes went straight to the camera.

'It's taken care of,' she said as she crawled on top of the bed and straddled him.

His hands impulsively went to her thighs. 'But they'll realise the towel's been put over it. They might come and check-'

His words were cut off by a kiss as she leaned over him. She held his bottom lip in her teeth gently for a moment before releasing it. 'Wylie's covering for us. We have half an hour. So I say we make the most of it...Patrick.' She began to kiss his jaw line and moved her kisses to his earlobe, biting on it gently.

His hands wandered to her waist and he moaned, beginning to nuzzle her shoulder. 'You told Wylie about us?' he asked, kissing her neck as his hands moved to her derriere and caressed the soft fabric that covered it.

'No, he owed me one. Saw me topless earlier,' she laughed, moving her kisses to his neck.

'Huh?!' he said, pulling her face to him.

She laughed again, kissing him. 'It was quite funny really.' She gyrated slowly over his groin and his eyes closed briefly as he groaned as she turned him on further. 'Now, you want me to tell you that story now or-'

He flipped her over onto her back and kissed her hungrily as a response.

'Watch your back,' she giggled as he began to massage her breast.

'It's fine,' he said, kissing her fiercely again. As he raised his head she noticed his eyes roll a little in his head.

'Are you okay?' she asked, more concern than passion in her tone now. 'You look...a little spaced out.'

'I'm fine,' he insisted, shaking his head. 'Wylie's doing all sorts of favours today it seems. My back was acting up a little still so he got me some muscle relaxers from the pharmacy before he helped you shop.' He kissed her again, trying to ignore the dizziness in his head. 'I'm just a little foggy. It'll pass.'

She moved from underneath him instantly to grab the pills on the nightstand. 'How many of these did you take?'

'Three, why?' he asked, attempting to rid her of her bra.

'It says to take one, two at the most!'

'Meh, what do those drug companies know? They always exaggerate. Probably worried about lawsuits. But if I knew you were planning this I wouldn't have taken any. Don't worry, Teresa. I'm more than capable of satisfying you before they have any effect.'

He grabbed the pills out of her hand and threw them to the side, beginning to kiss her with more urgency, trying to move her off the subject and back to her earlier purpose. He kept his eyes closed, hoping by doing so he wouldn't feel the room swaying around him.

'You sure you're okay?' she asked, moving him back onto his back and throwing a leg over his thigh as they kissed again.

'Perfect, I assure you,' he replied.

'Well maybe I should take charge of this just to be on the safe side,' she smiled as she began to undo his vest.

'Hmm. Sounds good to me,' he grinned as she kissed his neck and chest as she began to unbutton his shirt. She ran her tongue along his breastbone and she heard him murmur in response, 'God that feels wonderful.' He breathed heavily, running his fingers through her hair. As she placed kisses on his stomach a few moments later she became aware that Jane was no longer reacting to her touch and his hands had stopped moving but were still tangled in her locks.

She raised her face, cursing as his hands got caught further. 'Jane?' She pulled his hands free and moved to look at his face, his eyes closed and a smile on his face. Louder, 'Jane!'

A deafening snore was his only response.

'Son of a bitch,' she said quietly, shaking her head, too shocked to be angry. 'We're cursed...we must be,' she added to herself.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Thanks for the love on this story thus far with the amazing Mayzee and Brooke! Hope you guys enjoy the new chapter. This chapter is** **rated M.**

* * *

Chapter 11 - Barefaced Cheek

She was throwing him the stink-eye from across the room as he woke up late the next morning, feeling well rested and refreshed. The back pain was down to a tedious, humdrum ache now. His eyes flew to the camera in the room. He wasn't quite sure if the towel that had been on it had been a delusion from the muscle relaxers Wylie had given him, or if it actually occurred.

The same could actually be said of the purple panties and bra Lisbon wore to give him a wonderful surprise. Whatever the hell Wylie had given him, he sure couldn't tell what was real and what was not reality. Judging by the look Teresa was giving him, he was sure the bra and panties had been real, and he probably messed up in some way.

'You're awake,' she said grumpily, placing lotion on her hands as she walked towards him in a fluffy hotel robe. 'Nice dreams?'

He cleared the thickness in his throat and nodded. 'Yeah. I dreamed you were wearing the sexiest pair of undergarments I had ever seen. It was wonderful.'

'Pretty vivid of you to remember,' she said, casting him a reproachful look. 'Funnily enough, I was wearing those exact things last night when we were enjoying ourselves before you fell the hell asleep!'

He got up immediately and closed the gap between them. He reached out for the belt keeping her robe together, his fingers rubbing the cloth. He bent to ghost his lips over her cheek, feeling the tension and frustration in her jawline as he traced kisses up to her ear. He pulled at the belt, letting it open as he inhaled the fragrance of her skin; the mix of strawberries and mint mingling with the slight dampness of her. His eyes flickered to the camera, making sure the red light was off before he pushed the gown from her freckled shoulders. She was completely naked underneath.

'You're not wearing them now,' he whispered in her ear. 'How very, very disappointing. I thought I would make up for whatever it is I did last night.' He kissed her earlobe. 'Or attempt to.'

'Not right now, _sleepyhead_!' she told him, pushing on his chest and repositioning her robe, closing it sourly. 'We have to go talk with the bartender. Find out what we can get on Lenny Thomas, the bar manager. I think we require a second meeting to rule him in or out, do we not? It was on the list to do so-'

'Really?' he breathed out, defeated. 'Sometimes I genuinely _hate_ this job _.'_

'What I really hate is the fact that since we've… connected on a different level here, I have broken a soap dish, nearly got caught topless by our own colleague, and have you fall asleep just as things were getting pretty good.' She laughed without mirth. 'I am getting pretty goddamn frustrated! And I mean in every sense of the word!'

'Did they fix the soap dish? Because if they did—Hey! It was merely an idea!' he called after her as she turned and huffed away from him and back into the bathroom.

His eyes jerked back up to the camera and he could see that the red light was blinking again, indicating it was on. He was growing very annoyed with that. He sighed and turned round, his eyes falling to the floor where two black stiletto heels were lying. Beside them, in a small pile, were the panties and bra he had seen her wearing. He wanted to face palm at his own imbecility, but he would just have to make it up to her… well, to them, as he was sure he'd enjoy the making up as much as she would. He groaned at how close he came to having finally consummated their budding romance, only to ruin it with falling asleep as they were just getting into their groove.

* * *

Half an hour later, they made their way back down to the lobby, heading for the bar area set just inside the lounge. They bypassed the ballroom, which was set up for the masquerade ball they were to attend. The interior was being decorated in sage green and white strips of ornate streamers, sage green balloons, and they could see two men lifting a large glass chandelier up to the middle of the ballroom, the diamonds in the light fixture the same shade of green as everything else. There were two balconies that overlooked the view of the falls in the distance.

'I didn't realize it was going to be so fancy,' Lisbon told Jane as they worked their way past the open room. 'It looks beautiful.'

'Nothing will look as beautiful as you, Teresa,' he enjoined her, slipping a hand easily around her waist, pulling her to him. 'It's impossible.' He kissed her on the side of her head.

'Don't ass-kiss,' she told him with a little humor in her voice. 'Trying to sweet talk me out of forgetting what happened last night.'

He laughed softly at that. 'No. I don't believe I could ever make you forget that. But I am attempting to make up for it. I hope to,' he told her softly. 'We won't be kept apart forever. Just think of when we finally do come together.'

She only glared at him as he led her into the bar just off the lounge. It was lunch hour, and the bar was moderately full, with two bartenders working the crowd as some soft rock jazzed out from the jukebox in the corner of the room. They rolled up to the bar and waited for the barman to tip his chin at them and ask them what they wanted to drink.

'I'll have a Piscola, and my lovely wife will have a Long Island,' he told the young man. 'Thanks, uh...'

'Jeff,' the barman told him.

'Jeff,' Jane repeated. 'Hey! Can you tell me what the Piscola is garnished with?'

Jeff looked a little taken aback by the question, but shrugged. 'Ordinarily a flower floating on top or just a bit of lime on the glass.'

'Good. Thank you, Jeff,' Jane told him, watching the confused man walk further down the bar.

'A Long Island Iced Tea? What do I look like?' Lisbon said once the barman was out of earshot. 'I am not a soccer mom fixing to go on a bender, Jane!' She whipped her hair at him, which happened to be in a tight ponytail.

He obviously wasn't paying attention. Something was obviously on his mind. He tapped on the bar with his hand and captured the attention of the other barman, who was adding ice to a shot glass. He came over and leaned against the bar in front of them.

'I was wondering if you could tell me where Lenny Thomas is? He's the manager of the bar, is he not?' Jane asked. 'I just want to ask him a question about the bar setup tonight for the ball. We can't rightly set up the bar if he doesn't tell us where to put the fold-up counter, now can we?' he laughed.

Lisbon saw that the first bartender was heading their way with their drinks. She knew she needed to distract the barman, because Jane had told him he was there with his wife. If he overheard that Jane was getting information, he might get distrustful. She left Jane's side and walked over to the end of the bar where Jeff was fixing her drink. Leaning her body across the bar, she bit her lip and batted her eyelashes at him, capturing his attention.

'I don't know why he insists on ordering me such girly drinks,' she said softly, reaching out a hand to play idly with material of his shirt. 'He's always doing stuff like that.'

'Is he some kind of professor or something?' Jeff asked, looking down at Jane who was eying him and Lisbon closely now. 'I mean…the dude is wearing some weird ass clothing. No offense, miss.'

'None taken. Ah, but I do find those suits endearing. But I like a man in a nice white T-shirt, too,' she said, lifting a finger to caress the barman's chest. 'I like seeing muscles in a man.'

'Really?' Jeff said, interested. 'Are you sure you and your husband-'

Lisbon took a glance down at Jane, who was alone now at the bar. Lisbon reached over the bar for a napkin, and reached to pull a pen Jeff had resting on his ear, writing down something and passing it to him. She winked at him once more, before taking both their drinks in her hands and making her way back to Jane.

'There,' she told him, handing him his Piscola as she sipped her iced tea. 'Distraction complete.'

'He was into you,' he told her, narrowing his eyes a little over his drink. 'You were convincing.'

She tilted her head and smiled at him. 'I was, wasn't I? Well, no harm done.'

'What did you slide over to him?' Jane pressed, his jealous curiosity getting the best of him. 'He looked intrigued.'

'Our room number,' she told him, taking a satisfying sip of her tea.

Jane choked on his drink, spitting it everywhere as he reached over for a napkin to wipe his mouth and vest. 'You what?'

'I gave him our room number. Well,' she said, setting her drink down on the bar, 'I gave him _a_ number. Don't know whose number it is, but I am sure they will be having a great time.' She laughed as she helped him wipe off his vest. 'Better time than we will.'

'Oh, please don't doubt me, Teresa,' he told her, stilling her wrist. 'Yes, we have had mishaps and we have had troubles, but never count me out. I promise you we will have fun tonight.'

She looked up at him and could see he was being very serious. She nodded her head and smiled broadly. 'You are too cute when jealous. You have this little tell.'

'Tell?'

'Yeah. You narrow your eyes to thin slits. It's cute.' She finished dabbing at his vest and placed the wet napkin on the bar. 'So what did you find out about Lenny Thomas?'

Jane picked his drink back up and downed it in one gulp. 'He won't be around until tonight at the ball. He's out getting stuff for it. But I think I have a clue, at any rate. That's the good news.'

'Good news?'

'Yeah. I am thinking, Teresa. When I figure it out, I will let you know.'

'So what do we do now?' she asked. 'It's still a few hours until we have to get ready for the ball.'

'I have to go get my tuxedo,' he told her, leading her away from the bar. 'You can come along with me. Help me pick one out.'

'I don't want to be your damn handbag holder!' Lisbon told him. 'Or whatever it is you men call us women when trying clothes on.'

'Please?' he asked her softly. 'I'd like to match you. Especially since in the olden age, masquerades were done as fancy balls for socialites. They often matched outfits with their partners so they could find them within the crowd even when wearing masks. It was done as to save awkward incidents, I suspect.'

She frowned, but relinquished. 'Fine.'

'Great. Let's get going. We have about two hours.'

* * *

The hotel dress and tux shop was open when they arrived, but there was hardly a soul around. They passed the lady manning the registers who had her back facing away from them, and Lisbon led Jane back toward the men's department. He stood back as she ran her hands through the racks of tuxedos, using her gaze to scrutinize each and every one she saw.

'So many here,' she commented. 'My dress is a deep royal purple color. I'd like the vest to match. I mean,' she said, glancing back, 'if that is okay with you. Since you insist we match.'

He simply smiled and watched her continue her search. Finally, toward the end of the rack, she found two tuxedos that were black, tapered in the back with a matching purple pocket square the color of her dress. She pulled them down and handed them to him.

'These two look the best. We can always find a purple vest to match once we see if these will fit and look good,' she told him. 'The dressing rooms are back there.' She pointed to a small area with two curtained cubicles. 'I will wait here.'

He smiled at her and headed down toward the dressing area, disappearing in the last cubicle, closing the curtain. Lisbon looked around while she waited. She supposed it was because of the ball, but the place was deserted. Even the cashier that had been there a few minutes ago was gone. She sighed and looked at the clock over the doorway leading back to the dressing rooms. She must have been sitting there for five minutes at least before she heard his voice from the back.

'Teresa!' he called out. 'Can you help me please? I—I think I am stuck!'

She sighed and rolled her eyes upward. She got up and walked back to the cubicle, leaning against the partition. 'What's going on?'

'I need your help,' he called out. 'Where are you?'

'I am outside the-'

She felt the curtain move aside, and before she could register what was going on, she was being pulled into the cubicle, the curtain drawn and her body gently pushed against the wall as the cold surface registered against her blazing hot body. His lips were on hers immediately. She could feel his chest rising, each breath more erratic than the one before. He pushed her hard into the wall, his hands slipping into her chestnut hair pulling her face to his. Unadulterated lust and need taking over as her own hands came up to press the back of his neck, pushing him harder into her with a moan escaping her lips when he allowed her to come up for air. He lifted her onto the small bench they had there for items, letting her legs dangle as he stood in the middle of them.

She noticed for the first time that he was divulged of all his clothing bar his boxers, his hot chest and legs blazing holes through the material of her pants and shirt where they touched. She tilted her head as he lifted his lips from hers and went to nibble and nuzzle her neck. His three-piece suit he took off was thrown in the corner with his shoes and socks.

'I promised you we would have fun, Teresa,' he whispered in her ear. 'And so we shall.'

'In—in _here_?' she asked, breathless. 'It's public!'

'Nobody is here,' he told her against her skin. 'Plus, if you are quiet, nobody will know.'

His hands fell from her hair to her hips, grasping them as his mouth trailed back to her lips and he deepened it. For as much as she was not liking the public nature of this impromptu get together, she was giving as good as she got. Her body was humming with burning fire through her veins as her hands traced his neck, down his back, following the curve of his spine and resting her palms on his barely clad hip bones.

'This is probably our only chance,' he whispered, moving his hands around from her hips to her button and zipper on her jeans. 'The soap dish, the camera, Fischer… Do I have to go on?'

She shook her head slowly. 'No.' She felt him pop the button on her jeans and heard the zipper pull down. 'You don't.'

He smiled at her before kissed her forehead, over her cheek and landing at the corner of her mouth. 'Good.'

She felt the material of her jeans being tugged from her hips, pushed down to her knees, leaving her pressed against the cubicle by Jane in nothing but her blouse. Jane's fingers slid up her bare thighs, up over her sides and over to the buttons holding her blouse closed from his probing fingers.

'You know,' he told her quietly, making idle conversation as his fingers flexed around each button. 'I really dislike these things. I want shirts on you that I can discard easily. I do like working for my prize, though. But in situations like this where time is of the essence, it's a little hard...'

'Next time you want to take me by surprise in a place like this, I will surely remember to wear a regular shirt,' she replied back, watching as he came to the final two buttons, popping them from their slots easily.

'Don't be mean,' he told her with a smile. His hands slid from her shirt to her bare skin, his warm hand pushing the coolness of the cubicle from her mind. 'I am only observing.'

'What if someone sees us?' Her eyes searched his.

'They won't. Nobody is coming in today.'

'How do you know?'

'Well, when we walked in, the sign was turned to closed. Accidental most likely,' Jane told her snickering. 'I think that is reason enough to quell your fears.'

She was about to produce a snarky reply when his hands found her breasts, pulling the material of her bra up to expose them to his conscientious eye. She arched her back with the pleasurable sensation his palms were doing on her, rubbing her breasts roughly with his hands as a long smile unfurled across his face.

'You're an idiot,' she told him, unable and unwilling to stop herself from pushing out her hands to pull on the cotton of his boxers. She pushed down on them and let them fall to his feet. She saw him move to kick out of them. Her hands were everywhere; on his chest, around his shoulders, on his naked hips.

'I assume you are enjoying this idiot and his idiotic plans?' he asked, dipping his head to take her breast into his warm mouth.

She gasped at the pleasure of feeling his tongue flick the bud, nipping her with his teeth as he pulled on her. He kissed the skin between her breasts as her hands discovered every inch of flesh she could reach. She could feel the hardness on her belly; a delicious mix of warmth and need letting her know just how ready he was.

'You don't need this,' he told her, pulling his head back and reaching his hand up to pull on the elastic band holding her ponytail together. 'I much rather it fall down around your beautiful face.' Her hair fumbled and fell in a cascade down her bare shoulders. 'Better.'

Her shaking hands fell to his muscled hips, rubbing a lazy pattern across the indentations. 'We better hurry,' she whispered. 'We have a ball to catch.'

'Hmm,' he muttered as he possessed her lips once again. 'You are absolutely right, Teresa. We do.' His breath was hot and moist against her as he trailed his hand down, ghosting over her breasts, rib cage, abdomen and thighs before he stepped back just enough to take hold of his base and position it at her warm, wet core. He was about to press into her when the curtain flew back and the cashier from earlier yelped in surprise at the two of them naked and locked together. The cashier's eyes fell to Jane holding onto himself.

'Oh! Oh, my god!' the cashier cried out.

'Jesus!' Jane exclaimed, reaching both hands down to cover his privates.

'You're naked!' the poor woman replied, pointing at the two of them.

'Wow, you are very sharp!' Jane retorted. 'Do you mind?' he asked, facing his naked body away from her so that he covered Lisbon.

'You can't do that in here, sir!'

'Goddamn it, lady! I would like it very much if you'd go fold something for ten minutes so I can not do this in here?' he replied angrily, listening to Lisbon groan in embarrassment. 'She's got what you got, I am sure,' he told her as he watched her small, beady eyes flash up to an undressed Lisbon before she yelped again and closed the curtain quickly. Jane turned, looked down at himself and then at the closed curtain and face palmed on her shoulder. 'Damn it to hell.'

Lisbon pushed on Jane's chest, her hands coming to cover her exposed breasts. Jane stumbled back and cursed silently under his breath as he watched her pull up her pants and zipper them before reaching to close her blouse. He started laughing. It started out as a small chuckle, but before he knew it, it was a roar of laughter. Lisbon was unamused by his satirical laugh.

'You think this is funny?' Lisbon threw at him, doing up the last button. 'This isn't funny anymore, Jane!' she told him, her eyes filling with tears. 'I get caught up in you, and this stuff happens!'

Jane stopped laughed and took to putting his clothes back on. 'Seems we are having no luck, Teresa,' he agreed in defeat.

'She saw things! She saw naked things!' Lisbon was telling him in a shrill voice as he buttoned up his vest. 'How am I going to go out there? How can I face that poor woman?'

'Teresa,' Jane called, putting up a hand. 'Calm down. It'll be fine. We aren't going to see her again.'

'She saw your muscled ass!' She shook her head. 'She saw all of this!' She motioned to her breasts.

'Teresa,' said Jane with a sigh, 'I am pretty sure the woman was too traumatized to look really well. We have to leave here sooner or later.'

He grabbed the suits and slung them over his arm. He waited for her to move as he walked over and pulled back the curtain, but she didn't. Her cheeks were red and her head was bobbing slowly, her arms crossing tightly across her chest.

'No,' she told him. 'I am not facing her, Patrick Jane!' _Not after she saw us about to...Oh, god!_

'Teresa,' he told her. 'We really should get out of here. The sooner we do it, the sooner it will be over.'

'You know what? Just don't try anymore spontaneous romantic crap anymore!' she yelled at him, uncrossing her arms and marching past him.

When they got up the counter to pay for their purchases, the cashier was so red in the face Jane thought she might not be taking breaths. When he handed her his credit card, she picked it up by the corner and scanned it into the machine before dropping it on the counter and letting Jane pick it up.

'Have a great day,' he glanced at her name tag, 'Meg.'

'You, too, sex….I mean…. I meant sir,' she corrected uncomfortably.

Lisbon walked away from them as Jane laughed at the slip up from the cashier. She paced outside until he caught up to her, pushing his tuxedo over his shoulder.

'This is the most embarrassed I've been! I quit!' she told him.

'Oh, no, you don't!' Jane told her. 'Admit it. That was exciting. I can see the blood pumping to your face. You found it erotic. Should I invite Fischer in? I think she'd enjoy—OUCH!'

Lisbon had reached up and smacked him upside his head. 'Stop with the jokes.'

'You hit me,' he said childishly. 'It hurt.'

'Good. Next time we are caught naked in a goddamn dressing room, it won't be your head I hurt!'

She huffed away toward the elevators with Jane right behind her rubbing his head and left to feel the embarrassment he didn't allow Lisbon to see earlier.

* * *

They hurried back to their room, knowing that the ball was to start in a little over an hour. They knew they couldn't touch the way they had just done so with the camera in the room, and Wylie would be suspicious if they out the towel up there again. Jane pulled his tux from its hanger while she hurried into the bathroom with her dress and shoes, also taking her panties and bra that matched with her.

As she stood under the hot water, she replayed what happened in the dressing room in her head. Patrick Jane had almost had sex with her! And not just sex, but probably good sex. Amazing, mind-blowing sex. She could almost feel the way his fingers lingered on her skin even now. It was gentle and rough; cold and hot. She was sure given the chance with minimal interruptions from colleagues, medication and cashiers; he'd take her to even higher places.

Her hands felt around her hips and abdomen, and slowly rose to her breasts where he had touched her and nibbled her. They had almost been able to express the love they felt for one another. No Fischer or cameras…

'Teresa,' Jane called through the door. 'We have to go now. They are expecting us!'

'Coming!' she called out, losing her train of thought. She turned off the shower, stepped out, and dried off.

Slipping the dress onto her slim body, she brushed her hair into a soft updo, pinning it in place with a silver comb. It complimented her dress, she thought. She put on her heels and walked out of the bathroom, walking into the main area as Jane was fixing his purple vest. His eyes raked over her body.

'You look stunning, Teresa!' he told her. 'Like a princess.'

'Yeah, yeah, I know. Someone stole my tiara,' she rebuked.

'No! No! I really like it. It fits you perfectly.' He gazed up into her eyes. 'You are glowing, my dear Teresa.'

'I wonder why?' she said frowning. 'Embarrassment, maybe?'

'Perhaps, my dear,' he said with a smile. 'It'll fade. Shall we go now? Maybe after the ball, I won't turn into a mouse and we can find somewhere to finish this fairy tale?'

'I'd like that,' she whispered, watching as he lifted his arm for her to take. 'Maybe I will get to surprise you, then. Maybe I'll have the whole hotel take a peek at your bare ass and my breasts!' she replied.

He chuckled as he led her out of the room, letting the door close behind them.

* * *

The ball was just starting to swing into action when they got there. The sage green and white theme stretched to every part of the décor as they handed the receptionist stationed in front the passes that Sheridan had given them. The receptionist smiled at them and gave them each a mask to wear. Lisbon's was made of white and sage, with three gems on either side of the eye holes. She put it on and waited as Jane placed his on his face. His mask was sage and white, but his mask had oriental embossing on the front, covering it in a fine pattern with sage sparkles that shone off the lights in the ballroom.

They made their way inside and heard soft, mystical music play through the speakers, and saw a few couples dancing in the dim room, only illuminated by the chandelier they had seen earlier. They walked to the side of the room, Jane's eyes keenly surveying the bar area on the far side of the room for the manager, Lenny Thomas. So far, Jane didn't see him.

'Want to dance?' Lisbon asked, her hand in his. 'I mean… it is a ball, after all.' Though her mood was less than stellar after being caught with her literal pants down, she knew they had to act like an adoring couple who were having sex every night.

He smiled at her, reaching out with his free hand to caress her chin. 'Teresa, of course. I'd love to dance.'

He led her to the dance floor as the music started a new song. He positioned his hands at ten and two, relishing the feel of her against him once more. The thoughts of what happened earlier were still fresh in his mind, and he couldn't wait until he was obstacle free to let her feel more of him. They danced in a slow pace, their masks going askew as they bounced and bobbed. As they turned to face the bar area, Jane got a glimpse of Lenny Thomas. Lenny Thomas was at least 6'5 in height and very, very skinny. Hard to miss, really. He was unloading something from a hand truck.

'Lenny is here,' he whispered in her ear. 'I want to go find out what he knows.'

'Now?'

'He might leave before I get a chance, Teresa,' Jane said. 'There's a young man in a mask over there! I'll see if he can occupy you until I get back.'

'Jane!' she called out.

It was too late. She watched as he walked over to the guy and whispered in his ear, pointing at her. The man in the mask nodded his head and made his way over to her.

'Uh,' he said. 'I know this is kind of awkward because of yesterday… uh… me seeing your… uh...' he stammered.

'Wylie?' Lisbon asked, shocked.

'Yeah,' he said. 'Want to dance? Jane said he'd be back.'

'What are you doing here?' Lisbon asked, allowing Wylie to touch her waist and hand.

'Well, I kind of walked in here to help set up, see if I could get the read on anyone, and well...'

She shook her head at Wylie. 'It doesn't matter anyway. Did you find anything out?'

'No,' he said. 'You and Jane?'

'What about us?' she asked defensively.

'Did you find out anything?'

'Oh. Oh, right, sorry. Not sure yet. He's over there talking to the bar manager,' she told him.

They danced for a few silent minutes before Jane came back. He excused Wylie and took over dancing duties. He was quiet until the song ended. Then, 'He's suspicious. Very suspicious behavior. Nervous and too friendly. Plus, when I brought up the murders, he was a little too concerned about them. Not to mention the fact he is wearing evidence.'

'How so?'

Jane held up and daisy petal. 'Found this on his clothing.'

'He runs the bar. They use that for garnishes?'

'Yes,' Jane agreed. 'But the killer also uses it after he kills people.'

'How do we find out which one it is?'

'This is where you come in,' he told her. 'I need you to distract him as I go back into the bar area in the lounge and look around. See if I can find something more concrete.'

'How?'

He smiled warmly at her. 'I think old Lenny there would love a dance or two from a very beautiful woman.'

She scoffed at that. 'No! Oh. No! No, Jane!'

'If you ever want to get out of here and finish the storybook...'

'I hate you, Jane. God, I _hate_ you!'

* * *

 **Brooklyn79 is up next!**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N** **: Thanks to everyone for the huge support, follows, favs and kind reviews. We are all really grateful to you all. We are really glad you enjoying our fun AU story as much as we are writing it, up next the brilliant Mayzee...**

* * *

Chapter 12 - Confusion

Jane couldn't help but give a mischievous grin as he walked away from an angry hissing Lisbon calling out after him. He had asked her to distract Lenny the Bar Manager whilst he went for his usual unauthorised snoop around, suggesting she ask the man for a dance, knowing full well that would place her well and truly out of her comfort zone.

His plan was a simple one. To find the evidence linking the murders and then spend the next three days locked alone in a very secure private suite with Lisbon. Somehow.

After their second major interruption in the changing cubicle he felt like he was about to explode with frustration. Literally. He had taken one very cold shower when they returned to the room to get ready for the ball in an attempt to try help dull his burning desires. Unfortunately though his annoyance and frustration at being halted at every chance they got had reached its limit. There was only so much his biofeedback could handle and if they didn't scratch their itch soon he was unsure of the repercussions either physically or mentally.

Jeff the young bartender had confirmed to Jane the theory that the hotel resort used flowers in certain fancy alcoholic beverages and he would lay all his life savings on one of those flowers being a daisy. All he needed to do was discover the evidence in the Niagara Niagara bar. As Lenny Thomas was the only member of the bar staff employed throughout all murders chances were that he was their killer. Jane bristled that he hadn't picked up on the possibility at their first meeting but reading sociopaths was always difficult. And perhaps, admittedly, his mind _was_ focused on more carnal matters when he'd went to talk to him. Fischer would have a field day when he told her his theory and that he'd misread a suspect after all. Of course proving the man was the actual murderer might take some doing, especially with his airtight alibis. But Fischer and Cho could cross that bridge when they came to it. Or at least attempt to get him to admit guilt first. He hoped after tonight his work would be done. But right now he needed to find the flowers. And then he was going to spend some quality alone time with Lisbon.

Jane weaved his way through the busy dance floor, snaking in and out of groups of masked guests spread across the room. The ballroom doors leading out to the hotel lobby were wide open allowing the guests to come and go freely. As he went to exit the grand ballroom Fischer swiftly appeared from nowhere blocking his path.

She, Cho and several other FBI agents were attending the hotel's annual ball undercover on personal request of the hotel management. The annual masquerade ball was one of the hotel's and surrounding areas biggest society events and the last thing the hotel wanted was another murder to happen whilst three hundred paying guests danced the night away. Fischer had agreed that they could scope the ballroom better in person than sat up three floors up watching it all on the small screen monitors. Sheridan the manager had pleaded to her that all FBI agents attending should be dress in the right attire for the ball, afraid the FBI official jackets would scare the paying guests away.

Fischer placed her hands on her lower hips as Jane tried to duck behind a waiter in an attempt to avoid her. 'Jane!' she hissed, dragging him by the way side. 'It's me. Fischer.'

She was wearing a stunning midnight blue strapless dress with a sweetheart neckline and a masquerade mask. Her dress was long and sleek, fanning out slightly towards her feet. The dress fitted tightly to her slender figure and certainly enhanced her bosom, making her womanly curves show unlike the awful drab pant suits she normally wore.

Jane groaned inwardly when he felt Fischer's firm hand tug at his forearm pulling him over to the side out of earshot of other guests. He knew he would have to think fast on his feet to get away from his new team leader as Lisbon wouldn't be able to distract Lenny for too long.

'Ah Kim, So sorry. I didn't recognise you with the mask on,' he said plastering on a upbeat smile on his face glancing out of the doors to the empty bar across the lobby. The main bar wasn't officially open but Jane had spotted several of the waiters and waitresses coming and going carrying out trays of champagne for the guests, meaning that the bar was being left unattended for several long periods of time.

'Where are you going?' Fischer asked firmly, making sure there wasn't any people nearby to overhear their conversation.

'Who Me? Oh just to get some air, it's very hot in here.' Jane crooked his finger at his bow tie to show his discomfort, puffing his cheeks out for extra dramatic effect to his lie.

'Really? Because the balcony is that way,' Fischer responded dully, nodding her head behind him to a large open air space for the guests and raising a sceptical eyebrow at his explanation.

'You're not up to your tricks, are you? We agreed there would be no careless antics tonight. I promise the hotel manager we would put off any investigations for this evening. There is a serious killer out there Jane, last thing we need to do is put you or any other the other guests in danger. There are so many people visiting the resort right now, it's not just the hotel guests here, I mean...'

Fischer's voice drained away as Jane rolled his eyes skywards knowing she was on one of her lectures and he definitely wasn't getting away anytime soon. Lisbon would only be able to keep Lenny occupied for so long and then before long all the waiters would be back in the bar for more refills. So he decided to change the subject to totally throw Fischer off kilter, hoping a compliment might stun her into silence.

'Has anyone told you that are looking very lovely tonight, Kim,' Jane stated politely cutting her off mid rant and grabbing them both a champagne flute from one of the passing waiters.

'I mean... Wh-hat?...' Fischer asked, stuttering nervously.

'I said you are looking very lovely in that dress. That color really suits you. The design brings out your figure more. It's very appealing,' he said genuinely, but not really giving much conviction to his flattering remark as he glanced over her shoulder noticing that the bar was still unattended and that this was his time to act.

'Oh... Really?' Fischer asked, surprised by his words and giving her dress a quick smooth down with the palm of her hand, suddenly very aware her heart rate had picked up by Jane's unexpected compliment.

'Yes, it's very nice.'

Jane stepped to the side of Fischer allowing him a better look at Lisbon who was now across the room chatting eagerly with Lenny Thomas by the bar. Jane watched as Lisbon and Lenny moved to the dance floor together as he had requested. He estimated he had three to four minutes to have a good look around the bar for the evidence.

'You mean... my figure?' Fischer asked, fumbling her words unsure of what Jane was referencing. She quickly glanced downwards at her cleavage praying her breasts were sat straight and pointing upwards in the tight fitted bodice. She was began wishing she had worn that lacy pair of panties she left on her hotel bed rather than the large Bridget Jones style stomach flattening ones she was currently wearing.

'No. The dress,' Jane chuckled, taking his eyes momentarily away from his true desired location and focusing his attention back onto her.

'Oh. Right, the dress of course,' she said giggling nervously by her own stupidity, like some sort of teenage schoolgirl with her first crush. 'No. No, the dress is not mine; I hired it from the hotel shop. The lady in the store said it suited me.' Fischer self consciously ran her hand down her torso again feeling like she was suddenly under the spotlight.

'Well, she was right. It does look good on you,' Jane said, smiling back to his new uptight team leader and taking a big sip on his champagne as his left hand began tapping against his leg anxiously, eager to leave.

As he spoke he slowly and discreetly moved himself around Fischer making her turn back from the exit giving him more of an advantage to make a quick getaway. Whilst Fischer certainly did look nice in her dress, she didn't come even close to Lisbon who looked stunningly beautiful in that purple masterpiece Jane thought. Fischer was an attractive woman, especially when she made the effort and with that dress and the way she had curled her hair he could honestly admit she was looking very nice-looking and was pretty sure she would catch the eye of many of the men at the ball.

'Uh... Thanks Jane,' Fischer said shyly drawing her eyes downwards and not wanting the mentalist to start reading her naughty thoughts. Thankfully, Jane's attention had been distracted again and he didn't expand the conversation any further.

When Fischer had focused her attention away to the floor Jane he had caught sight of Cho walking across the dance floor trying to discreetly observe guests and bar staff. Cho was dressed in a smart tuxedo and a ball mask but unfortunately everything about the man screamed he was an undercover FBI agent on duty. What Jane did notice though was that Cho had been slyly eyeing Fischer's backside in the last twenty seconds and it was quite obvious that his observations about Fischer catching other men's eyes at the ball tonight were correct.

Jane leaned closer to Fischer whispering into her ear as he spotted Cho fast approaching them. 'Actually I am pretty sure there is a certain someone close by who has definitely been taken in by your look tonight,' Jane whispered playfully.

'There is?' she replied giving a small gasp when she realised how close Jane's body was from hers. Her body shuddered a little as his warm breath lightly tickled her ear. His masculine cologne smelt divine and for a few seconds all she wanted to do was turn her head in to his and place a kiss to his neck. Quickly pushing that inappropriate fantasy away Fischer focused back on what Jane was actually saying.

'Yes... and I would say that the only reason this someone hasn't said anything before now is because you both work together and you would think it would be unprofessional to have two members of the same team personally involved. But hey, I reckon rules are meant to be broken, don't you Kim!' Jane stepped back a few paces creating some distance between them and giving her another playful wink as Cho approached.

'Evening Cho, nice to see you. Looking very smart,' Jane said, swallowing the last remains of his champagne and quickly passing his empty flute glass over for the agent to hold. 'Well I will leave you two fine agents to chat and conspire,' Jane said patting Cho gently on the shoulder and grinning cheekily over at the pair before he quickly and quietly slipped out of the ballroom.

'Everything okay? What's going on?' Cho asked, sighing in annoyance when he realised he was left holding Jane's empty glass and saw a bewildered look cross Fischer's face.

'Huh?'

'I said, what is Jane up to?' Cho's eyes quickly diverted down to her cleavage unnoticed for a second before he refocused back to her face.

'Oh... Uh...He said he wanted to get some air... I-I think?' Her head was now a mass whirl of thoughts and confusion. Had Jane just confessed his attraction to her? Had all his hostility been an act? A cover for how he really felt about her?

Suddenly becoming aware Cho was stood silently watching her and that she was still the main lead on the murders case, she pushed her mixed emotions aside and placed her FBI mask back on. 'So have you or the others agents seen any suspicious behaviour? Anyone acting weirdly?'

'Everyone is acting weirdly,' Cho stated deadpan as he looked around at the other guests stood beside him. 'I mean who would choose to wear a mask at a party.'

'It's a bit of old traditional fun. I think it's romantic,' Fischer said wistfully followed by a small chuckle, as the memory of Cho's unimpressed face flashed back in her mind. When the over enthusiastic receptionist had insisted the stoic FBI agent wear the mask she had been fifty percent sure Cho had seriously considered quitting his job there and then.

Fischer placed her empty champagne flute down and swiftly lifted another one from a passing waiter, earning a small disapproving eyebrow raise from the agent stood next to her. 'What? It's a party, Cho,' Fischer stated, rolling her eyes.

If she was honest she needed something to help calm her nerves as she was still feeling left a little unsteady by Jane's earlier confession. She had been telling herself she wasn't interested in her new wayward consultant, especially not in the romantic sense anyway, but now she was unsure of herself. She had convinced herself that what happened on the island between them had just been part of the undercover operation to bring him home, but now he had let her know he was interested in her she suddenly felt confused and any secret buried feelings for him were resurfacing despite all the hostility between them since they had been back from South America.

She turned around to see where Jane was but found that he had disappeared completely from her sight and the ballroom. Sighing in frustration that he had made his escape, Fischer turned back to Cho. 'Come on. Let's get back to watching this party. Maybe Wylie or Lisbon will know what he is up to.'

* * *

Jane sneakily slipped inside the double doors of the hotel bar. 'Hello? Anyone there?' He called, making sure the place was empty and he was definitely alone.

When no one responded and he could see there were no lingering waiters he determinedly made his way across the room moving behind the large fully stocked bar. He knew he didn't have long before Lenny Thomas or one of the waiters or waitresses returned for more alcohol. The ballroom had its own small bar area set up but it wasn't enough to stock all the beverages for the party.

After searching the bar and finding no evidence of any flowers Jane started scanning the fridges to find that they all fully stocked with bottles of different beer and wine bottles. He leaned back sighing in frustration before spotting a open door at the other end of the room which he guessed was the bar storage room. Jane looked over his shoulder making sure no one saw him entering and walked into the darkened room. He switched on the light and the bright fluorescent over head flickered on making him shield his eyes for a second. He quickly switched it back off knowing it would draw too much attention. Running his adjusted eyes over the dark room where he saw high shelving racks stacked with different bottles of beer and spirits covering all sides of the walls.

As his eyes quickly began scanning the shelves for anything unusual he spotted a large tupperware box hidden behind a big box of vodka bottles near the top of one rack. He climbed up the small stock ladder to grab the box down. Quickly pulling off the lid to check the contents Jane sighed again in frustration when all it revealed inside was a range of old party balloons and streamers.

It was then the sound of a small generator kicked in behind him and Jane swirled round to see a small fridge set on the floor. Pulling the bottle crates aside, he crouched down and opened the fridge door. His smile widened when it revealed several different boxes of fresh flowers, including a whole box of daisies, the same kind of daisies they had discovered at each murder scene. Bingo! As Jane reached his hand to take the box a small noise behind startled him, making him spin round and straighten up in surprise.

'Excuse me. What are you doing in here?'

There stood in the doorway of the bar store room was John Sheridan the hotel manager. Jane noticed his eyes immediately softened when he took in the sight of a handsome Patrick Jane stood in a tux. Sheridan had made it obvious he was attracted to Jane and was secretly gay when he and Lisbon and met with him in his office the day before, so thankfully that was going to work in Jane's favour, or at least he hoped it would.

'Oh. Mr Jane, it's you! What are you doing in here?' Sheridan nervously glanced around the store room making sure everything was as it should be.

'Uh. I got lost,' Jane replied a little defensively. 'I was just looking for the little boys' room,' he said, slyly slipping one of the fresh cut daisies in his pocket undetected whilst Sheridan was distracted.

'Well, the gentleman's rest room is across the lobby near the reception desk. This area is out of bounds. It's for staff only,' Sheridan said sternly but slyly managed to rake his eyes down over Jane's body.

'Ah, right I see, well, I will just be off then,' Jane said politely stepping forward to make his way out the small store room.

'Actually there was a delicate matter I wanted to speak to you about.' Sheridan placed a gentle hand on Jane's bicep stop him from exiting. Jane noticed how he left his fingers lingering on his arm for a few seconds longer than was needed.

'Oh? really?' Jane asked curiously to what the man was going to say and secretly hoping he wasn't suddenly going to grow a pair and come out of the closet after all these years by making a move on him.

'Yes, I've had one of my staff come see me today, a Ms Meg Cooper. Nice girl, bit wet behind the ears but she is a keen loyal employee, nevertheless. She made a small complaint about some of your recent antics Mr Jane.'

'Meg?' Jane repeated puzzled, quickly scanning through his memory palace for the aforementioned woman. 'Ohhhh. Meg.'

'Yes, she was quite upset earlier. She... uh... claims you were caught naked and fondling yourself in the cubicle of the dress shop, along with your wife.' Sheridan's voice lowered as he uncomfortably addressed the issue. 'Now Mr Jane I appreciate that you are on your honeymoon but I must really ask that you and your wife reframe from intimate physical activity in the public areas and try to contain those sort of activities to your hotel suite.' Sheridan glanced his eyes downwards again in discomfort at his firm request that Jane obey the no sex rule in the hotel.

'Oh. Trust me I would if I could...' Jane mumbled irritably at how wrong this man was about the state of his sex life or the current lack of one.

'Sorry...?'

'I said of course, John. You can fully assure Meg and the rest of your staff that I won't be fondling, as you put it, myself in public. Again.' Jane waited for Sheridan to step aside but he didn't. It was then Jane noticed Sheridan's pupils were slowly dilating as he quickly darted his eyes down to Jane's lips and then his back up to his eyes.

'You look very dashing in that tuxedo Mr Jane,' Sheridan said shyly whilst taking an unconscious step closer.

'Well, my wife certainly thinks so,' Jane said softly, reminding the struggling man before him that he was in fact married, as well as straight. 'I best get back to the party. She will start to worry otherwise.'

Suddenly the sound of the bar doors banging open alerted them both that someone else was now was in the bar. Sheridan widened the gap between them immediately, straightening his tuxedo jacket and placing his professional manager persona back in place.

'Jane... Are you in here?' The sound of Fischer's angry voice rang out and Jane quickly made his way out the store room. 'Agent Fischer,' Sheridan said following Jane out of the store room. "Is everything okay?"

Fischer watched keenly as the two men left the small dark storage room together both looking a little uneasy with one and other. 'Uh...Yes, everything is fine Mr Sheridan. Uh, Would you mind giving me a moment alone with Mr Jane here please, Mr Sheridan. I would like to speak to him in private if I may. It's part of the ongoing murder investigation.'

'Of course.' Sheridan politely smiled at the pair then frowned at how the FBI knew where to find the mysterious honeymooner.

Quickly Jane covered for Fischer. 'Let me guess, my wife told you I must have got lost again,' he said to her, laughing. He turned to Sheridan. 'I really do have a terrible sense of direction.'

Fischer nodded. Though her tone was polite Jane could tell she was a little annoyed by him defying her explicit orders. 'Yes. She did.'

Sheridan relaxed his frown and nodded. 'Well, I saw my wife disappearing into the hotel kitchen earlier. I should probably go find her and make sure if everything is okay. This annual ball is the biggest event of the hotel year and we can't have the food going wrong.' Sheridan nodded his head at Jane and Fischer and quietly made his way to the doors.

'Oh, John? I would check the kitchen store room, I am sure you will find your wife giving a helping hand in there,' Jane said grinning slightly, knowing full well what Mr Sheridan would more than likely find his wife doing and hopefully putting an end to this unhappy sham of a marriage they were both currently trapped in. Once Sheridan had fully left the bar Fischer turned back to Jane. 'What was all that about?' Fischer asked eyeing the dark store room very suspiciously. 'And I told you not to investigate tonight.'

He waved off her remarks. 'Just having a chat,' Jane said calmly, relieved that Sheridan hadn't chosen him or today to come out of the closet or to confess his deep and darkest desires. He poured himself a glass of champagne from an open bottle that sat idly on the bar, downing most of the golden liquid in one gulp.

'Don't give me that. What are you doing in here anyway? The bar is shut. The party and your _wife_ are over there. You shouldn't be in here. Like I said, I told you no antics.'

'I was following a lead actually,' Jane snapped a little angrily at her stern ticking off that made him sound like some naughty schoolboy, producing a daisy in the palm of his hand and pouring himself another champagne, finding that the expensive golden liquid was now going down a little too nicely.

'Oh my god, is that?...'

'A daisy. Yes. We need to get forensics down here to check the box in that room but I am betting they are the same petals used in all of the murders. My guess right now is Lenny Thomas the bar manager is our guy.'

He noticed her raise an eyebrow so he continued before she spoke. 'I'm not actually psychic, you know,' he said irritably. Softening his tone he added, 'It's my best guess at this stage.'

'Okay, so say I believe you although I'll need more than just your hunch and a few petals to convince me. What is the significance of the daisies?'

'I...I don't know. Haven't figured that part out. Must be something to do with his past-'

'We've run background checks on him already-'

'Well perhaps something from his childhood then would be my guess.'

He began heading towards the bar exit, leaving Fischer alone holding the evidence. He was satisfied that he had done enough on this case for one day and was now even more determined to go make love to Lisbon, especially as the alcohol was hitting his blood stream and was giving him a new energy boost.

'But... But hang on. Lenny Thomas has alibis for all of the murders. How can we prove that he is the killer? If he is the killer,' Fischer asked, quickly marching after him before he could leave the bar and her behind. Jane sighed, rolling his eyes. 'Well I am sure you and the rest of the FBI will think of something. Take the man in for questioning, hold him for forty eight hours and I am sure he will break under Cho's hard questioning eventually. Talk to the people who gave him his alibis. Break them. You know, use some imagination. Now if you don't mind I really need to get back to Lisbon-'

'Actually there is something I want to talk to you about,' Fischer said, gesturing for Jane to take a seat at the nearby table. 'Privately.'

'Really? Now? Can't it wait?'

'No Jane. I think we need to talk.'

'Fine,' he sighed.

Jane sulkily sat down at the table as Fischer placed herself down in the chair opposite him, looking down and fiddling anxiously with her fingernails. He poured himself another glass of champagne, preparing himself for a long winded lecture about FBI rules and regulations from the team leader. These kinds of lectures seemed to be becoming a regular event between him and Fischer since he joined Abbott's team.

'Look, about earlier...' Fischer started, her voice trembling a little with nerves, her sudden soft tone making him frown. 'I will admit I am a bit confused and even a little bit stunned. I mean, I assumed you were in love with...Anyway I was obviously wrong. I can admit that I have given it some thought. Yes. Is it against the rules? Probably, not that I have checked but I'm the supervising agent. But it's personal. As long as it doesn't interfere with the job, right?'

Fischer finally looked up to see Jane had paused from taking a sip of his champagne and his face was contorted in confusion by her words.

'Okay. I am not making much sense, am I?' Fischer leaned across the table, pouring herself a large glass of champers to steady her nerves as they were fully hitting her. She wasn't used to dating much in her line of work and she had never admitted her true feelings to a man.

'What I am trying to say is I think the best thing would be to try and put all that unfortunate island business behind us... I think... What I mean is... Yes. When we get back to Texas... I would like to...'

Jane furrowed his brow in befuddlement as well as amusement, not quite sure what the woman sat in front of him was actually rambling on about.

'You... would like to do what? ' Jane asked slowly, hoping his brain would eventually catch up.

'Well... I haven't thought that far ahead but I was thinking maybe a drink or dinner. A proper date-'

'A date?' Jane asked now even more bemused than before, desperately trying to figure out what the hell his new boss was going on about. It was then that the penny finally dropped on what the uptight female agent was trying to get at. Those several expensive glasses of champagne he had drunk on an empty stomach were clearly slowing down his brilliant puzzle solving detective brain somewhat.

'Ohhhhh...You mean... me and you?' Jane replied, his eyes widening followed by an innocent small chuckle he couldn't stop escaping. 'Wow, this new cologne really is working well tonight,' Jane mumbled to himself, sniffing at his shirt.

'You mean...you don't want...' Fischer voice trailed off as she realised she had totally gotten hold of the very long and wrong end of the stick.

'No, I don't Kim. I think it's fairly obvious who I do have feelings for and she is the main reason why I came back to the States,' Jane replied softly letting the embarrassed woman opposite down gently but secretly his ego was inflating as the alcohol started to take its effect.

'Lisbon...' Fischer said dropping her head back down again quietly answering to herself. Her face immediately reddened in discomfiture as the blatantly obvious hit her squarely in the face. 'So earlier in the ballroom when you said someone on the team liked me...'

Jane composed himself from suppressing a smug grin from spreading across his face as he saw Fischer begin to blush over her mix up.

'Cho. He has been checking you out all night,' he said kindly. Whilst he wasn't a big fan of Fischer, he wouldn't ever hurt her or shame her intentionally.

'Right, Cho...well... Well I didn't know that,' Fischer replied, exhaling, mortified at how badly she had got her wires crossed. She quickly stood up from the table avoiding all eye contact with Jane and extremely uncomfortable by how badly she had messed up with her new team member and consultant once again.

'You know, I should really go back up to the hotel room, check the cameras on the party to see if there's anything going on,' she said rambling. 'I will call forensics to come down here and check these flowers out-'

'Fischer... Wait...' Jane said, his tone taking on a more sympathetic tone. Fischer stumbled backwards knocking into a chair trying in vain to make her escape quickly and with some dignity and pride still left.

'Could you let Cho know he is now in charge of the surveillance party downstairs?' she said quickly turning around, practically running out of the double doors of the bar in humiliation.

Once alone Jane couldn't help release a big smug smile followed by a chuckle as he watched the door of the bar slam behind his team leader. He was very flattered and amused by the events of the last ten minutes. He had definitely had an unexpected ego boost by his two most recent encounters. Sheridan and Fischer. And he wasn't going to lie, it did secretly feel satisfying to have one over on Fischer now, especially after her tricking him like she had, back in South America.

Jane grabbed an unopened bottle of champagne off the bar and headed out of the empty room back to the party and to hopefully whisk Lisbon away somewhere more romantic for some romantic private time. As he made across the lobby his cell began vibrating in his jacket pocket. He swiftly pulled it out, a big smile spreading across his face as he saw Lisbon's name flashing up on his display screen.

'Hey you... I am just on my-'

Jane's cheesy smug smile instantly dropped as the voice on the other end abruptly cut him off.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Mayzee back once again. Thanks to all who have continued to show their support for this fun little romp.**

* * *

Chapter 13 - Blast from the Past

Breathless, Lisbon stammered, 'Jane! Get back here! Now! I'm in trouble!'

The line suddenly went dead and Jane picked up the pace, quickly putting the bottle of champagne on a table in the reception area as he raced through it. Panic rose in his chest. He'd left her with that man when he knew he was dangerous. It would be all his fault if something happened to her. He could barely breathe by the time he arrived back at the ball. His eyes skirted everywhere across the heads of the partygoers who were packed in now as the gala got into full swing as they filled up the dance floor. He searched for purple but couldn't see it. He took a breath, concentrated instead of allowing terror to take over him. His eyes went to the bar and he saw Lenny Thomas there, chatting amiably to the barman beside him. Obviously she wasn't with him at least. He assumed Fischer was going to wait for forensics and after the ball before she brought him in for questioning, stickler that she was. He let go of a breath then frowned. If he didn't have her then where the hell was she? And why had she nearly made him have a heart attack with that phone call?!

Cho caught his eye and the two men shuffled towards each other. Cho shook his head at him when they were closer. Normally inscrutable he appeared a little rattled too. 'What's going on?' Jane asked, still frowning. 'Where's Lisbon?'

'Balcony outside,' the other man replied. Jane puffed out a breath of relief as he relaxed his face then frowned again. 'Obviously there's something else.'

A slight quirk came to Cho's lips. 'She's with Walter Mashburn.'

'What! What the hell is he doing here?!' While he admired Mashburn in many ways now that he and Lisbon were more than colleagues he didn't much like the idea of an ex lover swooning over her.

'Don't know. Fischer called, said you suspect Thomas. Wants me to keep an eye on him until we pull him in for questioning later.'

Jane nodded, only vaguely registering Cho's words, his mind still focused on Mashburn. With Lisbon. When she was wearing _that_ dress.

Cho continued, reading the discomfort in his expression, 'You don't want him blowing your cover. You better get out there.'

'Cover?' Jane's brow furrowed. 'Oh right yes...cover. Have to keep that intact,' he nodded. 'See you later, Cho,' he grinned, moving away.

After he dashed off Cho rolled his eyes. He muttered under his breath as he shook his head, 'Worse than Rigsby.'

* * *

 _Ten minutes before_

Even if she could overlook Jane using her as a distraction so he could snoop around AND overlook the fact that she could be dancing with a serial killer she was going to kill him for the fact the man opposite her could not dance. Never mind the height difference that would have made it almost impossible even without that. Over a foot between them the gangly idiot had bruised each of her toes by now with his size fifteens. And she'd had to smile sweetly at him every time he'd trounced on her feet, each smile totting up another whack she would inflict on Jane for the pain she was going through. When she was tapped on the shoulder as she continued to dance with Lenny Thomas she figured it was Jane who had returned and she relaxed her shoulders despite the misery she wanted to put him through. When she turned and was confronted by a grinning Walter Mashburn she almost had a coronary instead.

'Teresa!' he smiled, taking her into an embrace immediately, his hands a little low on her back for a merely platonic hug.

As she gained control of her speech she smiled, 'Walter! What...what on earth are you doing here?' she said, trying to make her voice sound natural and not high pitched. She removed his hands from near her ass as they lingered there and laughed as she held them in front of her.

Mashburn felt her ring under his fingers and raised it immediately to his face. He stared at her, stunned. 'You're...you're married?!'

Sideways she saw Lenny Thomas stand beside the pair of them, his eyes narrowed in a frown. Before she could say anything Mashburn turned to him and looked him up and down. He glanced at Lisbon and threw her a confused and curious look, his eyes asking her ' _really?'_ before he shrugged with an eye roll. Instantly he changed his expression to a wide grin as he looked at the man beside her again. 'Well many congratulations I guess, my man! I have to say you must be some man for this kickass former C-'

' _He's_ not my husband!' Lisbon interjected, both annoyed at Walter for thinking she'd actually marry the doofus at her side and almost blowing her cover at the same time.

Mashburn relaxed a little as he nodded, a twinkle in his eyes telling her he was more than a little relieved to hear that particular news. She noticed Thomas stiffen briefly at the tone she'd used then saw him mask his irritation with a smile. 'I could only wish,' he said politely.

'Um...sorry,' Lisbon stated. She gestured to Thomas. 'Lenny, this is an old friend of mine, Walter Mashburn. Walter, this is Lenny Thomas. He runs the bar here. My...my husband is busy and well...he offered to take me for a spin around the floor.'

The two men shook hands as Thomas asked a tad suspiciously, 'Old friends, huh? So how do you two know each other?'

'Oh it was a lifetime ago,' Lisbon said quickly.

Mashburn's eyes glinted mischievously. 'But never to be forgotten.' He focused on her again. 'So, if this gentleman isn't your husband then who is the lucky man? I must meet him.'

Her face reddened and she stuttered. 'Oh...I'll introduce you later,' she said in an offhand manner, looking for help. She saw Cho out of the corner of her eye but he shrugged, telling her she was on her own. She supposed it would have been strange for an FBI agent, not to mention a man Mashburn had already met to interrupt them. It would blow her cover to hell. And for once in his life Wylie wasn't popping up out of nowhere to help matters.

'You should meet him. He's quite a character,' Thomas said, his mask of conviviality firmly back in place as he addressed Mashburn. 'He was doing magic tricks in the bar the other night,' he laughed.

Mashburn narrowed his eyes at her. 'Magic tricks? It's...it's Patrick, isn't it?'

Knowing she had no escape route she said, 'Um...well yes it is, Walter.'

'You've met him?' Thomas enquired.

'I have,' Walter said, biting his lip in thought. After a beat he shook his head. 'Well I'll be damned. Always knew you two had a special kind of connection. But how? Last time I heard about him he was-'

'Out of the country,' she finished for him, telling him with her eyes to play along and not to mention the fact he was wanted for murder just a few months before.

'Yes...' he said slowly, nodding for her to continue.

'He came back. Just recently.'

'And then the two of you...you just got married, just like that?'

He furrowed his brow, utterly confused at how a man on the run and wanted for murder one minute could suddenly come back to the States and get married to the woman standing opposite him the next. He knew there was much more to this story than she was telling him.

'Yeah,' she said. 'We're actually...well we're here on our honeymoon, Walter. I should go look for him-'

'Ah,' he said, a knowing smile coming to his lips. His eyes drifted down to her stomach and back to her eyes surreptitiously as Thomas looked towards the bar. 'Well marriage suits you, Teresa.' He laughed. 'Even if you are married to Patrick Jane. You look radiant with it.'

She widened her eyes and patted down her dress. Did he really think she was pregnant? Now she had two men she wanted to punch. Thomas drew his attention back to them, 'If you'll excuse me, Teresa. It was nice meeting you, Mr. Mashburn.'

'Walter, please.'

'Thanks for the dance, Lenny,' she smiled.

'Of course,' he said smoothly.

'Walter, it's a little hot in here, mind accompanying me to the balcony to get some air so we can catch up some more?'

He ran his eyes over her appreciatively. 'It would be my pleasure, Teresa.'

'Thank you,' she smiled through gritted teeth. She wondered how the man ever got any work done as all he seemed to have on his mind was sex. And obviously her being 'married' and 'pregnant' was not one bit off-putting.

As Thomas was excusing himself he said to them, 'I'll fetch you both some drinks out there.'

'Yes. Please,' Lisbon said, lingering on the last word.

After Thomas made his exit, Mashburn eyed her with suspicion. 'Teresa, are you sure you should be drinking in-'

'Yes,' she snapped. 'I'm quite sure.' As she was about to drag him away he noticed Cho out of the corner of his eye, 'Is that Cho?' he asked loudly.

'Sssh,' she whispered, 'Go out to the balcony. Wait for me. Don't talk to anyone else!'

He grinned at her. 'Oh I do love it when you take charge. Reminds me of when-'

'Go!' she ordered him, her cheeks flaming. Quickly she took her phone out and called Jane for backup. Afraid Walter would go mouthing off to someone about her being a cop she hung up quickly and rushed after him.

* * *

She had hoped for some relative privacy on the balcony so she could set Walter straight but when she arrived there she noticed him talking to Mandy Miller who was circulating with drinks. Another suspect. 'Oh god,' she muttered under her breath, painting on a smile as she approached them. Walter immediately put his arm around her waist, giving her a little squeeze when she was beside him. 'Teresa, this is Mandy, she's been keeping me company while I waited for you.'

'Yeah, those ten seconds certainly must have been lonely, Walter,' she said, putting her hand on his and easing his grip slightly.

Miller eyed Lisbon from top to toes, barely concealing her resentment and jealousy when she saw the woman opposite her with another man that was clearly infatuated with her. Lisbon couldn't stop a smile of victory cross her lips, relaxing her grip on Mashburn's hand and easing into his side instead just to annoy her. _That'll teach you for coming on to my fake husband._

'Thanks, Mandy,' Lisbon smiled with obvious false affection.

Miller ignored her and batted her eyelashes at Mashburn, holding his gaze. 'It was a pleasure meeting you, Mr. Mashburn. I am at your service.'

His eyes twinkled back. 'That's good to know,' he smiled in appreciation of her offer and her voluminous assets. As she sashayed away he tilted his head to get a better view. 'Walter!' Lisbon said, hitting him on the arm.

He grinned back at her. 'Well, what do you expect, Teresa? I'm simply bereft at your news.'

'Yeah, I think you'll live,' she replied with a smile. 'But I'd stay away from that one just in case,' she added, tilting her head at the woman with her back to them. Before she went on to explain why and tell him the real reason for her presence in the Hotel she asked, 'What are you doing here anyway?'

'Thinking of branching into Hotels. This one is ripe for a takeover. Wonderful location but takings have been dwindling for the past few years. I just arrived back in the country from Europe and was in New York for some business so thought I'd come check it out before I headed back to the West Coast.'

She nodded in understanding. It was hardly unlikely business was not doing well with a string of murders over the years. As she was about to elucidate on them he continued in a soft voice, 'So...you and Patrick, eh?'

'Well...um...it's not that simple, actually,' she said quietly, ensuring there was no one around them before she said more.

'It never is with him,' he chuckled.

'No, it certainly isn't,' she admitted, laughing. Then, 'First of all, I'm not pregnant,' she told him with a glare.

'Oh? Well if you were then you'd be the most beautiful pregnant woman I've ever seen,' he replied smoothly. He laughed softly, 'I apologise, Teresa. But when you said you married him so soon after his return-'

'We're not actually married,' she whispered. 'It's a cover. We're working a case.'

His eyes widened in joy and he placed his hands loosely on her waist as she faced him. 'Well now that _is_ good news,' he replied as he openly stared at her cleavage before flicking his eyes back to hers.

'Walter,' she smiled, her eyes warning him to behave himself. He really was incorrigible but she couldn't help but be flattered by his attention.

He laughed but kept his hands where they were. He frowned then nodded, 'So that's how he's back. He made a deal with...who does Cho work for now? Homeland? FBI?'

'Yeah, FBI,' she confirmed. 'I work there too.'

'Well of course you do,' he smiled, 'He wouldn't work without you I'd imagine.'

'Something like that,' she smiled, recalling she was his first demand.

'So what's the case?' he asked with keen interest. 'These takeovers are monotonous and boring. Come on, perhaps I can help you both again.'

She laughed again. 'Yeah, we're good thanks. Reason takings are down is that there have been a bunch of murders aimed at honeymooners here-'

'Ah. Hence the cover-'

'Precisely. So you're safe unless you've got married yourself again,' she smirked.

'No such bad luck,' he laughed.

'Well, Walter Mashburn!' Jane grinned as he approached them, noticing Mashburn's hands predictably all over his fake wife. 'I heard you were back like the proverbial bad penny!' he smiled, draping his arm around Lisbon's shoulders and drawing her face to his and kissing her soundly. Lisbon's eyes widened at the surprise of the attack and didn't respond, blinking as he released her. Mashburn had dropped his hands from her and was regarding the display with amusement. 'I'd say you pair could do a little better than that,' he grinned. 'Patrick, if you'd like some tips on how to kiss a woman properly to make this act of yours more convincing I'd be only too happy to show you-'

'I'm good thanks,' Jane replied stiffly as Lisbon looked on with astonishment at the pair of them.

'No problem,' Mashburn smiled.

'I take it you've filled him in,' Jane muttered to Lisbon.

'Yeah, he's up to speed. He knows not to blow our cover.' Sternly, 'Right, Walter?'

'Of course.'

Jane noticed Lenny Thomas approach with drinks and saw Mashburn's eyes glint, knowing instantly he was up to something. As he grabbed a flute of champagne from the tray he raised a toast to Jane and Lisbon. 'Well many congratulations to the pair of you. Now, Patrick, as I didn't make the wedding I didn't get the chance of kissing your beautiful bride here-'

Before waiting on a reply Mashburn leaned forward a placed a kiss on Lisbon's lips that were parted in surprise at his announcement.

As Thomas was idling beside them Jane laughed softly, relaxing his hands from the fists that had formed during the display. 'I think it's meant to be on the cheek, Walter,' he smiled.

'Really?' Mashburn grinned. 'I'm sure that's how it's done in Europe!'

Lisbon felt like a piece of meat being mauled over by two lions and rolled her eyes as she took a long gulp of champagne. As she downed it a scream could be heard from the ballroom next door and Thomas rushed back immediately at the noise. Lisbon went to put her hand on her hip as her reflexive cop instinct kicked in but Jane took it in his instead, shaking his head at her. He whispered in her ear, 'You're not a cop, hold back a moment.'

Aggravated by having to remain on the sidelines she shot him a glare. Mashburn smiled at the two of them. 'Trouble in paradise already? If you need a good divorce lawyer-' he chuckled.

'Oh shut up, Walter!' Lisbon hissed at him. Jane grinned at her response to Mashburn and she glowered at him again. 'And you can shut the hell up too!'

Tugging on her dress she flounced away from the pair of them to find out what had happened in the ballroom.

Jane bit his lip and sighed. The pair of them had just acted like she was a prize in a cock fight with no mind of her own so he could certainly understand her annoyance.

'I'd forgotten how much of a firecracker she can be,' Mashburn said at his side.

'Yeah, she is that,' Jane nodded, unable to stop a smile forming. He wouldn't have her any other way. He wanted a woman who challenged him. Hell, he needed a woman like that or he'd walk all over her. And then get bored. And over a decade later he was never bored a second when he was with her.

Mashburn studied him and stated in a quieter tone, 'You finally realised, didn't you?'

Jane turned back to him and arched an eyebrow, 'Realised what?'

'What you had right in front of your face for years.'

Jane blinked rapidly as he noticed Mashburn's expression now bore no signs of mocking or amusement. He saw sincerity on the other man's face instead with more than a touch of wistfulness. He nodded, dropping his own mask. 'I suppose I did,' he acknowledged. 'I'm just lucky I wasn't too late. And that she was willing to give me a chance.'

Mashburn laughed softly. 'Well I'm happy for the pair of you.'

'You are?'

'I am. I'm not stupid, Patrick. I always knew I was a substitute for what she couldn't have at the time.'

Jane looked to the ground and shuffled his feet. 'I don't think she ever saw you as that, Walter.' He glanced back up at him. 'She liked you. For yourself.'

'Well whatever reason I certainly had a _fabulous_ time,' the other man remarked, grinning from ear to ear.

Jane puffed out a breath and shook his head at the other man's indiscrete proclamation. 'You know for a moment there I was starting to like you again, Walter.'

'You do like me, Patrick!' Mashburn laughed as Jane walked away chuckling to go after Lisbon.

* * *

When he arrived in the ballroom he saw Cho cart off a man in his mid to late thirties who had evidently knocked over a tray of champagne and who was shouting loudly at Lilly the receptionist who was in floods of tears as she dabbed blood from the concierge Blake Henderson's nose. He sidled up to Lisbon who was watching the kerfuffle. 'Kevin Nichols, I'm guessing,' he whispered in her ear, nodding to the man who was being escorted from the room.

She shot him a glare then nodded. 'Yeah, looks like someone's just let it slip about her engagement to Henderson. He went ballistic.'

'Interesting. Quite an opportune moment, wouldn't you say?'

Putting her irritation with him to the side for the moment she turned to him as the music started up again, 'Why?'

'Because it means Thomas just lost his tail,' he nodded, pulling her into an embrace to stop her glancing back at Thomas who was busy clearing champagne flutes.

Her eyes widened. 'Cho was watching him,' she confirmed. 'So...so you found something on him?'

After he brought her up to speed with his discovery of the daisies he pressed a small kiss to her lips. 'I'm sorry.'

She raised an eyebrow. 'About what in particular? There's quite a list of possibilities after this evening.'

'Can't it just be a blanket apology?' he smiled, holding her a little tighter but keeping his eyes half trained on Thomas.

She sighed and shook her head. 'Look, just because we're together it doesn't mean you have to act so...territorial. It was flattering at first but Walter was bad enough without you getting in on the act and egging him on.'

'I know,' he said softly, kissing the side of her head. 'Sorry. Besides, he's given us his blessing,' he smiled.

She pulled back, 'Really? You told him...about us? I mean about it being real?'

He shrugged, 'He guessed. Suppose I look exactly like what I am.' He kissed her earlobe then whispered in her ear. 'A fool in love.'

Her heart raced at his words but she replied with a smirk, 'Well, you're a fool, I'll give you that.'

He laughed, beginning to nuzzle her neck, forgetting they were in a crowd. 'Jane!' she whispered, drawing back, giggling. 'Um...murder case, remember?'

He rolled his eyes and sighed dramatically. 'Okay but there's really nothing left for us to do until Cho and Fischer have had a chat with Lenny. See if they can get something out of him before we look for a Plan B. I'm fairly certain he's the killer.'

'So, what are we supposed to do instead, just enjoy ourselves?'

'Why not?' he said, dazzling her with a smile. He took her hand, 'Come on, let's have another dance.'

She shook her head. 'I don't think my toes can take it.'

'Lenny not a good dancer? I'm surprised, I'd have thought serial killers would have to be quick on their feet,' he quipped.

'Very funny, you owe me a foot massage.'

'It would be my pleasure,' he replied, 'but I doubt I'd be able to stop at your feet.'

'Hush,' she smiled, her cheeks going the same colour as her dress. 'I meant at the spa.'

* * *

She toed off her shoes as soon as she entered their room. 'God that feels good,' she purred as she dug her toes into the plush pile of the carpet. They'd spent the remainder of the evening surreptitiously watching Thomas until they'd passed the baton over to Wylie for the rest of the night. Forensics were arriving in the morning to sweep the storeroom and for Fischer and Cho to bring Thomas in. Jane threw his jacket on the couch and yawned. 'I'm beat. It's been a hell of a night.' He thought back to the amorous intentions of both Sheridan and Fischer towards him and then discovering Mashburn's sudden reappearance into their lives to top it off.

'Yeah,' she yawned. She turned her back to him and lifted her hair. 'Would you mind,' she said, nodding to her zipper.

His eyes went to the camera immediately as his libido kicked in, giving him a sudden energy boost. It was blinking red at him like an annoying traffic light that wouldn't turn to green. He reached up and began to pull the zipper down. 'You're killing me, Teresa. Is this your way of payback for leaving you earlier?'

'Maybe,' she smiled. Then she felt his lithe fingers trace her spine in a soft sensuous fluid gesture and her body reacted immediately as goose bumps appeared on her skin.

He chuckled, enjoying seeing her little plan backfire. His back to the camera he caressed her satin clad ass with his free hand. 'I was worried earlier,' he said quietly, patting her behind in a playful manner before moving backwards, unsure if his control would hold up much longer if he stayed in the position he was.

She turned around and frowned at him, holding her dress up with her hands. 'Why?'

'Get changed, I'll explain in bed.'

* * *

As they lay together under the covers he explained his fear when he received the phone call, his terror at losing someone again even at this early stage in their relationship. She had countered that he couldn't keep her locked away and that there were always risks in the line of work they were in. Nothing was resolved but it felt good for both of them to voice their concerns and attempt to talk through an issue that would more than likely resurface throughout their relationship from time to time.

Then he attempted to lighten the mood. 'So...must have been strange seeing Mashburn again for you,' he smirked. Now he knew he had nothing to worry about where her ex lover was concerned he felt more in the mood to tease her about him.

'It seemed like you had more of an issue with that than I had,' she replied quickly.

'Come on, you must have been shocked at first.'

'I admit I was,' she giggled.

Suddenly the phone in the room sounded, startling them both. Lisbon picked it up immediately and a man's voice came through on the other end. 'Teresa!'

'Walter?' Lisbon replied, turning on the light, hearing the panic in his voice.

'I need your hel-'

Suddenly the line went dead. She shouted his name again, 'Walter!'

Jane was already out of bed and on his cell phone. 'Cho, you need to go check Mashburn's room. Something's happened to him.'

As he was on the phone Lisbon was already throwing jeans over her pyjama shorts. 'Lisbon! We can't investigate! Leave it to Cho. It's probably nothing.'

'He needs my help, Jane!' she yelled, throwing on a T shirt over her top and shoving her Glock down the waistband of her jeans as she pulled on her boots. She was almost out of the door before Jane could say another word. 'Teresa, wait for me at least.'

'Follow me up if you like. He said earlier he's staying in the presidential suite.'

With that she flew out the door and ran to the stairwell, taking the steps two at a time.

'Damn it,' Jane muttered as he hurried to get dressed again. As he knelt down at the bottom of the bed to tie his shoelaces he didn't notice the dark figure who had slipped through the door that was left ajar. Then suddenly everything went black.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N Hi, it's Brooklyn again, thank you for all the great reviews and the new follows and favs. We love that you are all enjoying our little fun filled TM caper. You're maybe wondering why it's not Shena's chapter but unfortunately she is away so myself and Mayzee are covering the story for the time being until she returns but we hope to have her back very soon and contributing again. Enjoy.**

* * *

Chapter 14 - Captured

Lisbon sprinted out of the suite and down the hall to the seventh floor stairwell pausing and waiting for Jane to follow in her footsteps, totally unaware someone had entered their room behind her. Rolling her eyes skywards at how Jane was purposely being slow she called out, her annoyed tone echoing down the hall, "I am going up to the presidential suite, catch me up."

Whilst being undercover had been fun, for more personal reasons, nothing beat the adrenaline rush she got of being on the front line of law enforcement and coming to someone's rescue.

Running up another seven flights of stairs she pulled open the door leading to the presidential suite's private hallway. Lisbon noticed that the decor was much more modern with gold plated trimmings as well as expensive pieces of art work hanging on the walls.

Spotting two double doors at the opposite end, she ran as quickly as she could, pulling her Glock out of her jeans. "Walter! Walter! Are you okay?" She panted heavily out of breath. When she got no response she stepped back raising her gun and foot into position. Wasn't the first time she had to kick down a set of doors to save a life. Lisbon forcibly kicked the middle of the doors managing to break the lock and springing one side of the entrance open.

"Teresa...Help!" Walter yelled out in distress from the bedroom.

"Walter... Are you oka-" As Lisbon reached the bedroom her words broke off mid sentence, her mouth dropping open as she ran into the presidential bedroom taking in the unexpected scene in front of her.

There, lying totally naked and spread-eagled on the king size bed with his wrists and ankles tied tightly to the four poster bed frame was the one and only Walter Mashburn. The only pieces of clothing he had on his naked body were a bright red feather boa wrapped around his neck and one black sock discreetly placed over his penis.

Slowly lowering her gun, stunned by the scene before her, Lisbon quickly ran her eyes over Walter's naked body spotting that his pale skin was covered in small red marks where some sort of torture had been recently applied. The next thing she knew and before she could stop herself she doubled over in hysterics unable to hold her professional persona in place any longer.

"Well I am glad one of us is finding this funny Teresa! Would you mind getting me out of this, now please?" Walter hissed bitterly, lifting his head and tugging on the handcuffs that were pulling tighter around his wrists keeping him firmly in place.

"The key to the handcuffs is over there." His eyes darted to the other side of the room. Lisbon inhaled a few deep breaths trying to control her fits of giggles as she walked across the bedroom to retrieve the key. The key to the handcuffs had been hooked over the vanity mirror clearly out of reach of Walter being able to grab it.

"What?...How? What happened?" Lisbon asked giggling again not bothering to hide the big smug grin spreading across her face. She had seen many strange and weird things in her time as a cop but seeing Walter Mashburn in only his birthday suit left high and dry was certainly a new one on her.

"That Mandy happened!" Walter stated angrily giving a big sigh of relief as he rubbed both his sore wrists as Lisbon freed him from the cuffs. "Remind me in future not to sleep with the staff. First thing I am going to do when I buy this place is sack her crazy ass," Walter said as he began untying the rope on his ankles.

"So, let me get this straight. You get kinky with the hotel maid and call me to come get you out of it?"

"Yes!" Walter replied sharply standing up from the bed and wrapping his red satin dress robe around his naked body trying in vain to have some sort of pride left. "Who else was I going to call? Hotel security? Oh yes, because it's every man's dream to be discovered naked by hotel staff in that kind of situation. If any of this got out to the press I'd be made a national laughing stock," Walter snapped when he saw Lisbon bursting into another fit of giggles.

Storming out from the bedroom over to the private bar he poured himself and her two very large malt whiskeys. "I've been stuck in that position for over an hour. An hour! I mean I knew she was a little wild when she suggested we order up some whipped cream and chocolate sauce from the kitchen but then suddenly she handcuffed me and refused to let me go, telling me she planned to do some wicked things to my body. Then things started to get a little...rough."

"Okay, no need for all the details," Lisbon chuckled wiping the laughter tears from her eyes. Whilst she was finding the whole situation highly amusing she didn't want to know the ins and outs of the sexual details of Walters's latest conquest.

"Why did you let her tie you up then?" Lisbon asked, accepting a glass of whiskey from the sulky ego bruised millionaire.

"Well you know how I like a woman to be in charge in the bedroom," Walter replied his tone turning more seductive and giving her a playful wink.

"Really? You're trying it on? You have just had kinky sex with the maid."

"She's a hotel waitress actually. Besides we didn't even get far. Thank god. Not sure if I would have survived the sex with her, especially if her rigorous foreplay was anything to go by." Walter swallowed, shuddering at the memory of the younger woman's rough antics towards his body.

"So where is this crazy dominatrix now?" Lisbon quipped enjoying seeing Walter so rattled by the ferocious Mandy.

"She left me to go get that whipped cream and chocolate from the hotel kitchen and has never returned. No one was answering from downstairs so she went down there personally to get the stuff herself." Walter glanced to the entrance suddenly becoming anxious of the young woman's imminent return. Downing his whiskey in one go, "I need you to arrest her," Walter stated boldly.

"For what?" Lisbon choked laughing at his ridiculous request. "Sleeping with her new boss? Whilst that may have been a bad career choice, it's not against the law, Walter."

"No! But tying me up, leaving me totally vulnerable for an hour and biting me all over like I was some kind of corn on the cob is!" Walter snapped pulling open the top of his dress robe and examining his bruised red marked chest.

"I am not arresting her Walter. You got yourself into this mess you can get yourself out of it. I am going back to my room. It's been a long evening and I need some sleep. And next time you get stuck in this sort of kinky predicament make sure you call someone else. Actually, how did you even call me if your hands were tied up?"

"Special Voice recognition software. The cell responds to my voice. But there must still be some kinks in it, cut me off."

She placed her untouched glass down on the bar taking a quick glance of her surroundings. "Impressive suite, isn't it?" Walter poured her out another drink holding the glass back out for her to take. "You should see the private roof terrace upstairs. A swimming pool, hot tub, even got its own Koi fish pond. There's my own helicopter pad-"

"Good night Walter," Lisbon said heading towards the exit knowing Walter was now back to being his cocky playboy self and trying to impress her. Last thing she wanted do was to encourage him by staying longer than she needed. Besides Jane and Cho would be arriving any minute and Jane had already shown earlier he would let his petty jealousy rule his head when it came to Walter Mashburn.

"Stay," Walter called out after her. "Please. Just for a little while. We didn't get a chance to catch up properly earlier, especially when your new _boyfriend_. Sorry, I mean, when your new _husband_ turned up."

"You know Jane is on his way up here. Now." Lisbon raised an eyebrow making sure Walter knew the score. "We both thought you were seriously hurt and in danger and he called for backup."

Walter tilted his head watching the exit waiting for Patrick Jane to appear. After a few moments and no sign of the consultant showing Walter turned his attention back to Lisbon. "Oh yes, his concern for my safety and welfare is very touching," Walter quipped knowing full well that Patrick was letting his petty jealousy be the reason for his non appearance.

"He...He must have got held up with something," Lisbon stuttered also watching the doors, not a clue to what was holding Jane up. If he had chosen to go back to sleep she would make sure she woke him up giving him a long lecture on why it was important on protecting others in their line of work. Even if that person was an old romantic acquaintance of hers. There was no time for petty jealousy when a life could be in danger.

"Is it serious? This thing between you and Patrick?" Walter asked, his tone turning more serious. He moved out from around the bar coming closer to where she stood by the white leather couches in the centre of the room.

"That's none of your business."

The last thing Lisbon wanted was to discuss her private life with a man she spent one night of passion with. It had only been three days since she and Jane had crossed that romantic line and she was still trying to find her feet with it all. Let alone try explaining it to someone else.

"Let's just say I am a concerned friend Teresa, looking out for you. So is it? Serious I mean."

"We were never friends Walter."

"No, you're right. We were so much much more," he retorted back with a large sexy grin clearly remembering certain intimate memories of their night spent together.

Lisbon rolled her eyes not surprised his sincerity would turn back to being sexually motivated. "I don't have time for this Walter, I have been wearing heels all night, my feet are killing me and I need to get some sleep. Good night." Lisbon waved her hand goodbye at the millionaire making her way towards the exit.

"You're right it isn't any of my business but it doesn't mean I am not concerned or worried."

Lisbon paused from exiting turning back round at hearing the sincerity back in his tone again.

"You don't need to worry about me Walter; I can take care of myself."

"I just don't want to see you get hurt or taken advantage of Teresa," Walter replied firmly taking a large sip of his drink. The sound of running footsteps distracted them away from their conversation. All of a sudden Cho burst into the suite pointing his gun frantically around the room. "You okay Lisbon? Where's Jane? He called me said there was trouble." Cho panted heavily also having run up the stairwell, his eyes trained and gun still scanning the room for any danger.

"Oh, I am fine by the way Agent Cho. Thanks for asking," retorted Walter, rolling his eyes that the stoic agent hadn't asked him about his wellbeing at all.

"Jane's not with you?" Lisbon asked worriedly.

"No. I assumed he was with you."

"He must be in our room getting dressed still. Could you pop down to our suite and let him know everything is fine. Walter just got a little...tied up, so to speak. But it's all taken care of now," Lisbon said chuckling again. Walter sighed, shaking his head, not liking the amount of pleasure she was getting out of his earlier sticky predicament.

"Okay, will do," Cho nodded towards his former boss making his way back out of the suite to the elevator.

Lisbon spun back to look at Walter. "Look, I appreciate the concern but it's really unwarranted. What Jane and I have is great and no one is taking advantage of anyone, okay? Besides we are taking things slowly," Lisbon said diverting her eyes down hoping Walter wouldn't see through her somewhat twisted lie.

The only reason things were going slowly between them was because of the undercover case and some evil twists of fate conspiring against them from being together in that beautiful intimate way newly in love couples should be.

"Hmmmm, well he has lived a celibate life for over a decade so it's not surprising he wouldn't be very quick off that mark..." Walter replied smugly, slightly satisfied to know he was still the only one out of the two men to have crossed that bridge with the lovely Agent Lisbon.

"Hey! Jane is just fine...That's also none of your business," Lisbon stated quickly becoming all flustered and annoyed by Mashburn's correct assumptions on their sex life. "Things are just great. Perfect in fact."

"Then why is he still wearing his own wedding ring?" Walter replied, his tone becoming much softer and kinder again. He watched as Teresa's annoyed expression fell and her own doubts and fears flashed up in her eyes. "I just don't want to see you get hurt Teresa. That's all."

"And I should be taking relationship advice from a man who has been divorced three times should I?" she remarked defensibly folding her arms across her chest.

"It was nearly four divorces actually. I got engaged three years ago to some Texan oil tycoon's daughter. Engagement only lasted five months as we couldn't agree on a prenup," Walter replied casually, trying to lighten the sombre mood he had created between them. Lisbon sat down on the large arm of the couch looking somewhat deflated at Walter's words about the huge pink elephant she had been ignoring over the last few days. Jane still wearing his wedding ring.

"And they say romance is dead," she quipped, fiddling anxiously with the necklace around her neck and drawing into her own thoughts not seeing Walter approach her.

"Look, I just want to make sure you're not going to get caught up in the whirlwind that we all know as Patrick Jane. From what I do know you have been through enough already in one lifetime because of that man. You deserve the best Teresa. Not some guy who is a flight risk and still committed and married to his dead wife. You deserve so much more than that."

"It's not that serious yet. We are just taking things one day at a time," Lisbon said trying to sound nonchalant and finding herself excuses. She hoped she sounded confident about their new relationship, even if deep inside she secretly wasn't. "Plus I thought you had given us your blessing."

"And I do. Hey, I will even walk you down the aisle myself but just as long as I know that Patrick Jane is going to be the man you truly deserve."

"I don't think that will be necessary," said Lisbon letting out a small chuckle, picturing the look of horror that would be on Jane's face if it was Walter escorting her down the aisle.

Was she thinking about marriage? Already? Maybe she was in this thing a lot deeper than she realised even only after three days of them officially being a couple. Lisbon stood up from the couch moving over to look out of the large bay window down upon the magnificent falls to gather her thoughts together. After a few minutes watching the thousand tonnes of water fall she turned back to face Walter who had been silently and curiously watching her.

"I don't know what is going to happen between me and Jane or if it's even going to last, but I do know it's something I want to take a risk on."

Walter smiled, contented by her answer. "Well, being a risk taker myself I can understand where you are coming from...But, if you ever change your mind on that known troublemaker Teresa, you know where to find me," he added playfully putting his egotistical playboy persona firmly back in place.

"Thank you for caring Walter; you're a good man really," Lisbon whispered, touched by his genuine concern for her and for trying to be her friend. She walked back over to the millionaire placing a soft goodbye peck to his cheek. At the same time the door of the presidential suite flung open revealing Mandy Miller the hotel waitress pushing in a room service trolley filled full of chocolate cream dessert goodies.

Mandy's eyes widened when she spotted her new plaything up and around and being kissed by another woman, dressed only in his dressing robe. "What the hell is going on? Who's she?" Mandy spat, her hands placed angrily on her hips watching the sweet tender moment between the pair.

"Oh Mrs Jane!" she exclaimed, her voice trying to sound professional but failing badly, too shocked to have found the honeymooner in Walter Mashburn's suite. Mandy shifted awkwardly on the spot trying to cover her half naked body. She was dressed in some sort of short kinky cop girl outfit along with a fake police hat and aviator glasses.

Lisbon gave Walter a knowing frown, guessing the younger woman's choice of outfit for the evening hadn't been her idea. Lowering his voice Walter leaned closer so only Lisbon could hear. "What I can say? You made quite an impact, Teresa." A small mischievous grin spread across his face witnessing her horrified glare back at him.

"Uh, what are you doing here Mrs Jane? And where is your husband? Does he know you are here... alone...with Mr Mashburn?" Mandy asked politely but fully irritated that this particular woman seemed to be getting her claws on every good looking man at the resort. Mandy folded her arms across her exposed chest embarrassed when she saw Lisbon eyeing her appearance from across the room.

"Teresa just popped by to say hello, didn't you? We are old friends," Walter said with a hint of nervousness to his tone and moving himself behind the small agent using her body as a shield from the pissed off looking Mandy.

"I should go," Lisbon mumbled not wanting to become involved with this weird lovers' spat. "Good luck Walter, I've got a feeling you are going to need it." Lisbon made her way out of the room as Mandy stormed past her into the luxury suite.

"What was she doing here? What is it with all the men in this place? Huh? She's not even that pretty. And she's old," Mandy bitched flopping angrily down on one of the bar stools. Lisbon angrily bit her tongue choosing to ignore the younger woman's catty remarks.

"And...she's pregnant, by the looks of it," Mandy grumbled not expecting Mrs Jane to overhear that last remark. With that being the final straw, Lisbon immediately spun back around entering the presidential suite again needing to put the younger woman firmly in her place once and for all.

"Oh Mandy, a quick word of advice. Woman to woman. Most men prefer a softer approach, sexually, in fact if you take things slowly with good old Walter here, he will practically keep it up all night. Trust me."

With that as her last word, Lisbon firmly shut the suite door behind her, smirking in delight as she heard the sound of Mandy's ranting rising in volume and leaving a poor Walter to deal with the aftermath. She knew she shouldn't have sunk to Mandy's level but her last bitchy comment about her being pregnant had got her back up.

Tomorrow she was having a black coffee only breakfast and spending at least two hours on the treadmill at the hotel gym. She blamed Jane for all of this, he had made her eat a cooked breakfast, lunch and dinner every day since they had arrived at the resort pretending to be on honeymoon and clearly all that fine dining was taking effect that others were now noticing.

The door of the elevator opened back onto the seventh floor to reveal a hive of activity surrounding their honeymoon suite. Lisbon quickly exited pushing her way through the small crowd gathering around the doorway.

"Cho what's happened?" she asked as she pushed her way into her suite to see a small blood splatter on the carpeted floor by the unmade king size bed.

"It's Jane," Cho replied. "He's been taken."

* * *

Twenty minutes later Wylie greeted her and Cho into the surveillance hotel room. Fischer ended her call greeting the rest of her team and gathered them around the surveillance screens. "Abbott is on his way up to the hotel. With Jane being taken it causes major problems with our undercover operation. Plus it will be a PR nightmare," Fischer sighed speaking to herself rather than the team and rubbing her forehead anxiously. Catching the annoyed glare of Lisbon over her callous comments she quickly apologised. "I am sorry. I wasn't thinking. We will find him Lisbon. I promise. What have you got for us Wylie?"

"Well, I have finished checking the video footage from the suite. It shows Lisbon leaving the room at 12:03am and whilst Jane had his back turned some big guy in a mask slips inside and hits him on the head from behind. Knocks him clean out cold. Then the suspect picks Jane up off the floor carrying him on his shoulder, which is quite impressive, I mean lifting a man of Jane's size and weight up-..."

"Wylie, focus," Cho said sternly to the young agent who was getting easily distracted.

"Uh right. Yeah, of course. Then, once Lisbon has definitely disappeared from the seventh floor the suspect makes his way down to the back service elevators."

"And?" Lisbon said apprehensively, waiting for Wylie to continue.

"And...That's where we lose sight of them both," Wylie replied sheepishly knowing full well that wasn't the answer Lisbon would want to hear.

"What! How can we lose him? It's the biggest hotel resort in New York State. There are cameras everywhere."

"Yeah but the suspect exits out at the basement and I couldn't get any signal down there with our surveillance so the we only have the old hotel CCTV cameras to go on and they don't show us much unfortunately . The good news is that we know Jane is still alive at least and we locked down the resort the minute Cho raised the alarm. Just may take a bit of time."

"Okay okay I get it. It's a big resort," Lisbon sighed running her hand through her hair feeling useless and frustrated. She knew only Wylie was aware of the change in her and Jane's new relationship and whilst this hadn't been the first time Jane had been kidnapped by some unknown suspect, this had been the first since they had confessed their love for each other. Suddenly she realised the stakes were a whole lot higher now.

"So do we know who the guy is that took him? Is it Lenny Thomas?" Fischer asked hoping they would have one possible lead.

"Can't be Thomas. I left Agents Simms and Taylor tailing him at the ball. They just confirmed he is with the rest of the waiting staff clearing out the ballroom whilst I was upstairs with you and Walter," Cho stated leaning over Wylie's shoulder taking a closer look at the large masked suspect paused on the screen in front of them.

"Who's Walter?" Fischer asked curiously as the two old CBI agents spoke about the man with such familiarity.

"Uh, just an old...friend," Lisbon stuttered her cheeks blushing bright pink by Fischer's curious stare at her obvious embarrassment.

"It can't be Lenny this guy weighs about 150lbs more than him and is covered in tattoos so it's definitely not the bar manager," Cho said firmly, pointing at the screen to show the rest of the team his observations on the unknown suspect.

"Hang on you said Cho raised the alarm over Jane's disappearance?" Lisbon questioned, as Wylie's words began to sink in.

"Yeah that's right. Cho raised the alarm when he went to your room and found Jane missing and the blood," Wylie confirmed not sure what point Lisbon was getting at.

"Well then who was supposed to be watching the surveillance screens to our honeymoon suite at the time?"

"That was me. I...I...I got distracted for a few minutes," Fischer stuttered fiddling nervously with her diamond bracelet whilst shooting Cho a quick sideward glance.

Lisbon eyed the two senior Agents suspiciously. Whilst Cho was a master of giving very little away and stood totally unfazed by Lisbon's intense stare Fischer's obvious anxiety was evident and Lisbon could tell straight away that the pair were both hiding something.

Deciding to push that little mystery aside for the time being she knew she needed to be fully focused on finding Jane and on making sure they got him back safe and sound. She had waited years to be with the man she loved and she wasn't about to lose him now.

"I am so sorry. I thought Jane was in the bathroom. It was only when Cho raised the alarm I realised I was mistaken. I am so sorry Teresa," Fischer said her eyes tearing up over her big error of judgement.

"We will find him. He has only been missing 17 minutes and there's a good chance he is still somewhere on the resort," Cho said calmly. "I will get the ground teams to search the basement." The stoic Agent made his way out of the room pulling out his receiver barking immediate orders to the other Agents.

Lisbon sighed turning back to study the surveillance screen and the masked suspect. "So if Lenny hasn't left the ballroom and he isn't the one that has taken Jane then who the hell has him?"

* * *

The door to the hotel storage unit opened shining a stream of light into the old dusty warehouse. Eugene Smith lowered the blond haired man to the cold damp floor like he was a sack of old potatoes. Out of the shadows Heather Newell, dressed in a expensive Italian designer dress, anxiously tiptoed forward from where she had been hiding behind a stack of old dining room chairs.

"Eugene! Is that you?" Heather Newell whispered moving into the poor light. "Oh my. Is he dead?" Heather carefully circled Jane's lifeless body lightly nudging him with her expensive Gucci shoe and jumping back in surprise when a small groan escaped the unconscious man's lips.

"No he's alive. I just knocked him out. He has been groaning and moaning all the way over here like a friggin baby," Eugene spat lighting up a large joint from his shirt pocket and flopping down across some old dusty couch the hotel no longer used, taking a hard earned rest from carrying the man all the way.

"Well, why didn't you kill him? I told you to kill him! Can't you do anything right?" Heather ranted frantically beginning to pace the floor of the warehouse, her high stilettos heels clicking loudly against the cold cement. "Oh god, this is a complete disaster."

Eugene paused from taking a drag of his joint narrowing his eyes in anger at her condescending tone towards him. "Hey, I seemed to be doing plenty right earlier sweetheart back in the kitchen. Especially when I had you screaming my name like a goddamned banshee."

Heather rolled her eyes shaking her head in disgust at his vulgar tone and focusing her attention back to the unconscious man lying on the floor beside her. "You were supposed to go up there and kill them both; making it look like the serial killer had struck again. Not bring him down here with you. And where the hell is the wife?"

"Dunno," Eugene shrugged sitting up blowing smoke rings into the dusty air. "She ran off out of the room just when I got there. Listen, I've already spent seven years in the freakin slammer and I ain't planning on going back there for murder. Okay! No way. Not for you and certainly not for this pretty boy lying over there. Besides I have a better plan than just killing him."

"A better plan? Such as?" Heather gasped in astonishment knowing Eugene was more of the doing type of guy than a thinking type. "Don't you get it Eugene? He has ruined my life! I've lost my spa, my marriage, my good reputation. You heard John, he is filing for divorce. And that's just the start of it. Wait till all the members down at the tennis club find out about all this. When Mrs Hemmings got caught with the maintenance guy in the club's equipment cupboard she was shunned by everyone and made a laughing stock for months. Imagine what they will say when they find out I have being caught having sex with some tattooed ex-crim chef from the Bronx! I will never be able to show my face again."

Eugene rolled his eyes skywards at the over dramatic rants of the prissy woman's wittering on about nonsense and moved to a table nearby in search for food and something to drink from his rucksack.

"My whole life is over. I don't know how you can be so calm about things. You have just lost your job too and your small drug smuggling empire you ran using the hotel kitchen deliveries and it's all because of this man. I want him dead Eugene. Do it. Do it now!"

"No," Eugene sighed casually ignoring the woman's bossy demands and pulling a bottle of beer out of his rucksack.

"No?"

"I said no. Killing blondie here ain't going to get us anything except a life sentence stuck in small cell. I have better plan. We hold blondie here for ransom. I am sure that new wifey of his will pay for his safe return, she seems pretty smitten. We will make a killing from kidnapping this guy."

"What! That's your plan? Are you insane? I don't want money! I want justice! Revenge! We can't kidnap him! There are federal agents all over the hotel at the moment. There is no way we can sneak him out of here without being seen, they will catch us."

"But that's the brilliance of my plan." Eugene grinned seeing the stuck up woman wasn't catching on to his genius idea. "The pigs will be putting out a search party for the guy halfway across the state by now. But we just keep him right here under their dumb noses. No one comes down to this old warehouse anymore. It's completely out of bounds. Besides we can send the stupid FEDS off the trail," Eugene scoffed laughing. "We will just tell them we saw some guys bundling pretty boy here down to the parking garage and driving him away in a van. It's brilliant. Simple but brilliant."

"Okay?" Heather replied her tone turning condescending again. "So let's say this idiotic plan of yours actually works? How do you know that this newly married couple even has money?"

"Uh...well I don't know. But the wife was all over that rich Wilber Moshbite earlier. They were even kissing at the ball at one point, one of the waiting girls told me. I mean, even if they ain't that rich, the wife can definitely get her hands on big amounts for sure. That Moshbite guy is minted; did you see the Austin Martin DB9 he drove up here in?"

"Mashburn!" Heather shouted correcting her stupid lover.

"What?"

"His name is Walter Mashburn. He is the guy thinking about buying the hotel. I had so many great business ideas for my little spa and with Mr Mashburn's sort of money and his keen business brain it could have all been so great." Heather's voice squeaked weeping hysterically into a tissue.

"Now all those dreams are all ruined and someone else will be running my beautiful business. And it's because of him," Heather snapped, angrily pointing her manicured finger at the lifeless Jane lying behind her. You know I saw that Mashburn sneaking into the elevator with that crazy airhead waitress from the restaurant. Can you believe it? Her! I mean the man is an absolute catch, he is handsome, rich, intelligent, well bred and that Mandy is...is..."

"A firecracker in the sack," Eugene stated impressively and relighting his roll up. Seeing the angry seething glare his lover was giving him he quickly diverted the conversation away from that slip up. "Anyway forget about all that, you need to trust me sweetheart we will make an absolute fortune doing it this way and you can start up your own spa, in any country or place you want."

Eugene watched as his manipulative words about owning her own spa produced a small excited smile across the weeping woman's face. "Besides, look at this nancy. Look at the way he dresses? In a three piece suit? Who dresses like that nowadays? Only rich or crazy people do that. Plus they must have money to be friends with the likes of Wayne Mullbush."

Mashburn. It's Mash. Burn," Heather stated emphasising the millionaire's surname.

"Yeah yeah whatever...just help me tie blondie to this post over here, will ya," Eugene said dismissively lifting Jane's limp body up and dragging him across the dirty warehouse floor dropping his cigarette ash all over Jane's suit and the floor. After tying Jane's hands securely around the post with some left over duct tape and old rope they found lying in the storage area the pair made their way back over to the old couch centred In the middle of the warehouse.

"Now, all we got to do is make them sweat for a few hours and send out a ransom note. I reckon five million is a good rate these days and this time tomorrow sweetheart we will be sipping cocktails in Areba," Eugene said downing the rest of his bottle of beer. He had no intentions of sharing the money with the stuck up Heather. As soon as they were safely out of the county and free he planned on dumping her skinny ass and taking all the ransom money then moving on with his life.

"Aruba," Heather sighed exhaustingly, correcting her lover once again over his stupidity and lack of knowledge.

"Huh?"

"Nothing. Forget it. Are you sure this plan is going to work. I mean what if..."

"Relax woman! I am the master criminal here, remember? I have got this all under control. My plan is full proof. Trust me," snapped Eugene confidently, slapping her hard across her ass and making her shriek out a small scream by his chauvinistic gesture.

"But, but what if-" Heather repeated again still not hundred percent convinced by her ex con lover's plan and nervously observing the unconscious man she wanted dead slumped up against the post.

"I said relax. Now shut your damn mouth and come over here. Let me show you what other great ideas and skills I have." With that Eugene grabbed her roughly ferociously kissing his way down the column of her throat to her cleavage. He quickly lifted the slender woman off her feet practically throwing her down on the dusty couch situated behind them.

"Sex here? Now? What about him?" Heather glared her eyes flickering to the unconscious man across the room, horrified that Eugene wanted to have sex when there was someone else in the room with them.

"Jesus! Quit your yammering, don't worry, he won't even know we are here; he'll be out for ages. A freight train could come through here and he wouldn't hear it," Eugene remarked dismissively going back to aggressively kissing and licking the woman's neck ignoring her feeble protests."Now, shut the hell up, and kiss me."

'Oooooh Genie, I do love it when you go all masterful on me," Heather groaned in pleasure as the large chef made quick work of hoisting her tailored fitted dress up around her waist. Both began quickly undoing each other's clothing in a haze of animalistic passion when they were interrupted by the sound of a loud cough echoing across the warehouse letting them know they had company.

"Uh-hm. Do you mind?" Jane sighed irritably watching the horny mismatched pair from across the dark gloomy room. "My head is pounding, I am severely parched, I think I may also need stitches to the back my head, my wife is off saving her ex lover somewhere and I wake up to find myself tied to this post in a damp warehouse being subjected to a live, and quite frankly, disturbing sex show," Jane said bitterly, pure sarcasm in his tone watching as the unlikely pair comically rolled off the couch in sheer panic, trying to adjust and button back up their clothing.

"To be honest, this is not turning out to be the romantic evening I was hoping for. Now, if one of you could tell me where I am and exactly what I am doing here I'd be ever so grateful."


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Hi! Shena, here! I thank you for the continued support, and I thank Mayzee and Brooke for picking up the story in my absence. You did a wonderful job, ladies. Next up is Mayzee.**

* * *

Lisbon wasn't about to sit around and wait. She already felt helpless and useless. The confusing part of this all was that this didn't make sense in the motive department. Usually, from what her files told her, the killer would kill the honeymooners in their rooms; their bodies would be sprawled over the bed and floor, and ordinarily with the female partner the first to die. Something didn't quite make sense, but at the moment, she couldn't think about it. She had to find Jane. Right now, she was looking at Wylie going back through the surveillance, and at Cho, who had reentered the room after barking orders, and Fischer looking very guilty and not making eye contact.

"This is useless," Lisbon told them, shaking herself free of her thoughts and turning toward the door. "I have to find him. Join the search… do something other than sitting on my ass."

"We have people on it, Lisbon," Cho answered her, pulling himself together to put a hand on her upper arm. "We don't even know who took him, Teresa. Besides, we don't want to blow-"

"Screw the cover, Kimball," said Lisbon. "I am going to follow that service elevator down and see where it leads off to. If you guys want to finish whatever was making you miss his abduction, who am I to stop you? But get out of my way, Kimball." Her voice was soft, but still held a hint of concentrated frustration.

Her gaze met Cho's as she watched his head tilt slightly in an uncommunicative answer as he released her arm. She looked back at Wylie and a scarlet-cheeked Fischer before turning around and exiting the room without another word.

Once she was out of the room, Wylie looked up at Cho and shook his head vigorously at him. His cheeks were slightly red and his eyes were large.

"What?" Cho asked grumpily, crossing his arms across his broad chest and staring deadpan at the young Agent. "What are you staring at?"

"I think Lisbon thinks we were...you know!" he replied, elevating a shoulder. "Kissing! I'm not gay… Not that there is anything wrong with that … And I think you are not that bad looking, even if you do look angry all the time, but..."

With one swift motion, Cho brought his hand to the back of Wylie's head and landed a thwack to the back of it. He pointed to the surveillance monitors and lowered his eyes into thin slits, glowering at him.

"What?" Wylie asked innocently, turning back to the monitors. "That hurt."

"Good. Go back and see if you missed anything with the other cameras," he instructed. "Fischer and I will head down to assist in the search. If you see anything, use the walkies." Cho and Fischer exited the room, leaving him to the monitor duty. He grumbled about the head smack as he rewound the video from a little before Lisbon found Mashburn. He let the tape go for a little while until he checked down at the left bottom monitor, which showed the kitchen areas and attached lounge door that fed into the kitchens and dish-washing area.

"Oh, and what do we have here?" he asked himself, clicking some buttons to bring up the picture larger. "Someone has been bad!"

His eyes followed Mandy Miller as she weaved through the few remaining chefs and people attending to room service orders after eleven pm. She wouldn't have struck him as odd had she not been wearing a skimpy cop outfit (clearly not for duty purposes) and shaking a can of whip topping quickly in her hands. He had overheard Lisbon telling Cho what happened to Walter earlier.

"There you go." He followed her through the kitchen and out of the lounge door. "But where did you end up?" He watched her stop just out of the line of his camera, talking to someone with his back to him and mostly obscured from view save for a patch of skin on the person's left arm before she turned to go through the hallway and into the service elevator. He surmised she must have gone back to Mashburn's room where Lisbon had intercepted her minutes later. But something niggled at him about the figure she was talking to so he rewound the footage to Mandy talking to the hidden person just before she disappeared. He froze the footage and could just identify a tattoo on the left arm just in shot but fuzzy. He pressed a combination of keys to clear the pixels to make the tattoo easier to identify. He leaned close to the monitor and frowned.

"Well, what do we have here?" He picked up his talkie and pressed the talk button down. "Lisbon? Fischer? Cho? I think I found something."

Silence.

"Cho? Lisbon? Anyone?"

Static and silence.

"Crap," said Wylie, lifting himself from his seat. "They must be in the garages where the signals cut out."

He reached into the bag on the luggage rack and pulled out three items, including the key-card for the entire hotel that he was given while posing as a busboy. That would come in handy.

"I want a raise," he grumbled under his breath before opening the door and slipping out into the hallway. No back-up and no means to call for any. "Yes," he said to himself, heading toward the elevators. "I need a raise."

* * *

"You're awake," Eugene replied, doing up the last of his shirt buttons and looking over the couch at Jane. "Right. Well, perfect timing."

"You know," Jane murmured, his head still swimming from the blow to the back of his head. "This is actually a turn-off for me." He pulled on the rope and duct tape securing his hands to the pole. "You didn't even try to seduce me first."

"Shut up!" Heather told him, standing hurriedly, crossing her arms across her bountiful chest. "You just shut up!"

"What are you going to do, Heather?" Jane asked her softly, licking his parched lips. "Kill me?"

"Don't talk to her!" Eugene cut in. "Talk to me! I am the one in charge!"

Jane laughed. "You can't even make good eggs, Eugene. What makes you think you can keep me here for long without messing that up, too? I mean," he shook his head, "look at Heather. Even she knows you are not a very sharp pencil."

"Shut up I said! Don't make me kill you!" Eugene stepped forward, nearly falling over his own shoes in the process, causing Jane to roar with laughter. "Stop laughing!"

Eugene walked over took a foot to Jane's kneecap. He roared in pain, but once the pain subsided he laughed again, turning his attention back to Heather.

"You guys aren't going to kill me."

"Don't be so sure," Heather told him. "He may be a one patty short of a cheeseburger, but he is still my Eugene!" She bent down, narrowing her eyes at him. "Now I suggest you shut up before things get ugly and my guy hurts you."

"You won't kill me," Jane repeated. "He," nodding his head at Eugene, "is too stupid to make eggs. How do you think he is going to kill me and not mess it up?"

"And me?" Heather asked him softly. "What is to stop me from killing you myself?"

"You are not a big, murderous baby, Heather," Jane told her. "You guys don't have the looks, psychological profile, or the brains, in Eugene's case."

Jane didn't waver his intense gaze from hers as he felt her fingers slide up his pants, stopping on his upper thigh. She was smirking now; a mix of humor and intrigue etched in her features.

"Who are you really, Patrick?" she asked, low enough so Eugene couldn't hear. "You are a little too smart for the average idiots that come through here after getting married. More refined and cunning."

He elevated a shoulder as much as he could and smiled. "Flattering, but I am simply here on my honeymoon with my beautiful and probably very worried wife."

"Hmm, your wife," Eugene said from behind her, watching as Heather pulled her hand up close to his hip bone. "Yes. She busted out of your room so fast, it seems maybe she isn't as worried about you as you think."

"She'll come looking, 'Gene!" Heather called over her shoulder, suddenly very nervous. "She'll call security and then we will be in some shit!"

Eugene rolled his eyes. "There are no cameras in the hotel basement. Plus, I told you earlier the warehouse is out of bounds."

"Well? What do we do?" Heather asked, taking her hand off Jane's leg and lifting herself straight. "She will tell people and they will search around until they find us! Out of bounds or not!" Her panicked voice lifted with each word. "What do we do, Eugene?"

He turned on his lover and shook his head hard. "First, I need you to shut the hell up, Heather! Stop being a baby! Second, I am going to bring the bitch back here. Stop her mouthing off. Mashburn is sweet on her. He'll pay double just for her!"

"Leave her out of this! You don't need to bring her into it. I am not resisting." Jane tilted his head to motion at the bindings on his hands around the pole.

"SHUT UP!" Eugene roared once again, kicking him in the ribs this time. "Let me think!"

"He's not going to share the ransom money with you," Jane promised her, suddenly serious as he grunted in pain. He was desperate to get the subject away from Teresa. "He is planning on taking the money for himself and ditching you to fend for yourself. Though, how he thinks he can survive being this stupid is a mystery to me, but hey!"

Heather turned on Eugene, her eyes going dark and her lips frowning deeply on her thin face. Eugene held up his hands in defense as the palms of her hands pushed on his mountainous chest.

"It's not true, babe!" he defended. "He's lying to you!"

"I am not!" Jane said. "You have it written all over your body posture!" Jane winced. "He's very greedy with money, as told by the fact he has stains on his clothing, old stains, but refuses to buy new uniforms. Then there is the fact that now that you are sacked from the hotel, you are going to need major cash. You were planning on taking the ransom and splitting with it just as soon as Heather, here, turned her back."

"You think you can leave me as soon as you get some cash in your hands?" Heather asked darkly. "Let me tell you something, Eugene! You won't get your hands on the money first! I will get it, and only then will you actually touch any of the money! If you think I am letting you alone with the cash, your dumb ass has another thing coming!"

As they continued to argue about the ransom, Jane looked around for anything he could use to help himself in his current situation. He could not move his hands more than a few inches to search the ground around his upper half, but his legs and feet were free of bonds. He began sweeping the floor with his feet in as noiseless motions as he could manage not to raise the ire of the two arguing in front of him. He was about to give up finding anything when he felt something sharp underneath his right ankle. His gaze ran up to them, both pointedly leaned at one another, Heather's finger in Eugene's face. In a sly move, Jane soundlessly dragged the sharp item with his ankle before laying his leg out straight to hide it just as Heather's eyes turned to him.

"You see what you did?" Heather asked, motioning toward Eugene, who was walking away from her now. "Where are you going, Eugene?"

"To get this over with. I'll make the call with the burner phone. Can't do it here. Signal sucks. Watch him. Don't mess it up!" he barked as he walked over to the door and slid it open, disappearing and shutting the door behind him.

"Jerk," Heather muttered. She turned back to Jane. "You really did a number on him."

"Glad to be of service," Jane told her. "He's very stupid. But honestly, I don't know if you are going to get much for me."

"One thing he was right about was Masburn will pay for that sweet thing you call your wife," she replied. "You must not be that good in bed." She laughed nervously.

"You could say that," Jane muttered. Louder, "You are not a killer, Heather. Bad taste in men, maybe. But this isn't you."

"You are not my therapist," she answered. "Don't give me advice I am not asking for."

"Wasn't going to," Jane replied tartly. "Heather, can I ask a favor?"

"No, I can't let you go."

"Ditzy, yet quick-witted with rebuttals. I like that. No, listen. There is something poking me in the leg, just under my calf. Could you please remove it? It is digging into my skin."

"No tricks?"

"I am tied up, lady," he reminded her. "What could I possibly trick you into? Scratching my leg? Come on, please. It really is hurting."

Heather sighed, but moved Jane's right leg aside and reached down for the object, which happened to be a small hairpin from her hair that flew over there during their impassioned—yet brief—love session. Heather held it up and laughed, shaking her head at it.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Jane said softly, watching her watch the light reflect off the silver polished surface. "Watch how the light hits the surface. Shiny and beautiful. See how the light shifts?" He turned his gaze to Heather, who was studying the pin closely. "See how it changes positions depending upon the way you turn it?"

"Uh-huh," she said stiffly. "Yeah."

"Good." He looked back to the pin. "What is it, Heather?" he asked.

"Beautiful," Heather answered back.

At this point, Jane knew that Heather was in a semi-state of suggestion. He was going to try to push Heather before Eugene came back and pulled her from her state. He smiled at Heather, bringing his teeth out in a white flash.

"Can I see it, too, Heather?" Jane asked softly. "Can you show me the light? Show me how it bounces easily across the surface?"

"Okay."

She brought the pin closer so it was level with Jane's line of sight. Jane looked at the pin briefly, watching as Heather's eyes watched the pin intently, her gaze unseeing anything but the pin. Jane cleared his throat and nodded his head at the pin.

"I think you should untie my hands so I can touch the pin and see it better, Heather," Jane commented. "I want to see the beauty of it, too."

"Yeah," the hypnotized idiot said. "Right."

Heather stood, taking the pin with her and walking around Jane. Jane could see her shadow on the warehouse floor kneel down. He felt Heather's fingers on his hands as she went to work ripping off the duct tape and pulling the rope loosely around Jane's wrists so that he was able to wiggle free of the ropes.

"Good girl, Heather." Jane stood up and brushed himself off. "Stay here and admire that pin. I suspect I will have someone with you momentarily to take you to a nice place where the food is worse than your lover's eggs and the toilet is attached to the sink."

"Okay," Heather muttered, spinning the pin in her hands.

Jane looked at the door that Eugene had exited out of. He had a small dilemma now; the only way out besides the window (which he would not fit out of) was that door. Eugene was no doubt standing behind it. How was he going to get out without drawing attention? He looked back down at Heather, still idly playing with the pin.

"Looks like I am going to need your help again, lady," Jane told her.

"Okay," Heather muttered once more. "Yeah. Help you."

Jane looked back at the door and sighed. Nothing could be easy just once, could it?

* * *

Wylie headed toward the suite in which Mashburn had been tied to the bed and Lisbon had found him in that compromising situation. He wasn't exactly sure what he was going to look for. He hoped he'd find some information out from Mashburn in hopes he'd gotten to talk to Mandy about anything, including who she might have talked to in the kitchens. Sure, it was a long shot, but what other choice did he have? The face was hidden but he was sure it was the same large man who had carried Jane's body. Lisbon and the crew weren't picking up their talkies, and he couldn't just sit around being useless, could he? He fixed his tool belt around his slim waist as he neared the suite, pulling out the key-card as he finally stood in front of it. He knocked with a knuckle.

"Mr Mashburn?" he called softly. When he got no answer, he placed the card in the mechanism and waited for the light to turn green before opening the door and stepping inside the darkness.

No sooner the door snapped shut, a hand reached out for him, turning him and pushing him against the wall, a knee stuck firmly between his legs. The key-card fell from his grasp, landing a few feet away.

"You're not Walter," a seductive voice said, hot and heavy in his ear. "I was expecting Walter. He said he'd be right back when he had to take a work call, but you are quite handsome. Did Walter send you to play with me until then? You're young…but handsome."

Wylie squeaked out a small reply as he felt her breath on his cheek, tingling and tickling. He felt her hands fall to his hips. He tried to wiggle from her grasp, but her knee held him firmly in place against the wall.

"I...I presume you are Mandy?" He swallowed hard at her breathy laugh. "I was hoping you could tell me something."

"Tell you what?" she asked, her palm sliding flat against his upper thigh.

He squealed in a high-pitched tone, closing his eyes as he felt her hands near his inner leg. His breathing became rapid as she leaned in close to his neck, planting a soft kiss there.

"Y—Y—Yeah," Wylie stammered. "Uh, I was—I was, OH GOD!" he cried out when her fingers neared his pelvic bone. "Uh...Uh...Please, M—Mandy," he begged. "I just wanted to know who you were speaking with in the kitchens."

"Why?" Mandy asked, inching her hand forward. "What do I get if I tell you?"

"Please! It's important," he replied. "Okay—Okay!" Wylie licked his lips. "I will get Walter back here again if that is what you want."

"Really? Tempting offer..."

Her hand inched forward again, tracing the V of his belly. He let out a high-pitched squeal again and closed his eyes. He felt her knee drop, causing his eyes to open a little.

"Oh, God," she laughed. "You are a virgin, aren't you? Pure like sugar!" she laughed as she stepped away from him and could see his cheeks redden even in the darkness. "You're cherry is intact. Just great."

"I—I-," Wylie cleared his throat. "I am here because I have a friend in trouble. I need to know who you were speaking to in the kitchens."

Mandy sighed and rolled her eyes. "Fine, virgin boy. I was speaking to Eugene from the kitchen. Crazy guy was asking if the storage warehouse was still in use."

Things clicked in Wylie's head. "The tattoo on his arm! It's the same one as…And why would he need to know about the—Oh, crap!"

"What the hell is going on?" Mandy asked.

"I have to go, Mandy!" Wylie said, trying to get around her and get to the door. "Sorry!"

She reached out to pinch his butt as he jumped and squealed like a pig, nearly tripping over his own feet. He wretched open the door, leaving the card to the rooms behind as he high-tailed it to the elevators. It was as he was trying the talkies again that he finally got a hold of Cho.

"You guys need to head for the warehouse because-"

He was cut off abruptly by Cho.

"Lisbon's missing? You found only her gun and a small amount of blood?" Suddenly, his lead was squashed for now. "Yes, sir. I will join you guys just as soon as I can. Yes, sir. I understand."

Now it wasn't the lead he was concerned with. It was finding Lisbon alive.


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: mayzee back again with a new chapter of this one. Apologies for the delay, it was entirely my fault and not the other good ladies writing beside me. Anyway, as you've waited long enough without further ado here's the next chapter!**

 **Brooke is up next!  
**

* * *

Chapter 16 - Escape

Jane looked around the warehouse for something that he could use as a weapon. Something that would knock Eugene out. He shook his head as he assessed his limited possibilities. Anything that might be of use he more than likely wouldn't be able to put enough weight behind to make an effective ding in the burly man's thick exterior. He'd more likely get himself knocked out. Again. He glanced at Heather once more, still enraptured with the pin like Gollum from Lord of the Rings was with his own trinket.

He didn't have long to think and hatched the only plan he could think of at short notice. "Heather," he said softly, "can you put down the pin and come here please?"

As she got to her feet and acquiesced he nodded warmly to her. "That's it, thank you. Now tell me, how did you get here? And, come to that, where is hell is here?"

"We're in a warehouse just behind the main complex. Behind the staff quarters. I walked here," she told him.

"Okay. Good." He stared into her dazed eyes. "You're a smoker, correct?"

Confused, "Yes, how did you-"

"You reek of mints and perfume to cover it but I can still smell cigarettes on you," he confirmed quickly. "Not important. When I tap you on your left shoulder I want you to go outside. Tell Eugene I'm secure but you need some air and a cigarette. Now, you're rather fond of sex in public places, aren't you? Where someone might catch you on? Why else use that condiments' cupboard so much, there are plenty of empty hotel rooms."

She blushed demurely. "Well-"

"You don't need to explain," he commented with a smile. Under his breath he muttered, "I really don't want to know." He cleared his throat and stared at her again. "It's a warm night. Tell him you want him. Right there outside. To finish what you started in here. Tell him the excitement has turned you on and you want him right there and then."

"Okay," she grinned.

Jane rolled his eyes. This woman had some serious addictions and not just to cigarettes. "Now, before you go I need one more thing from you," he said as he was about to tap her shoulder.

* * *

As he sneaked the door open a minute after she left he watched her push the large man into the corrugated metal that encased the building and attached herself to him like a limpet. "Wow, Heather, way to go," he murmured with a hint of admiration at her take no prisoners approach. Carefully he kept low as he heard their grunts and moans increase in volume. He grimaced and shook his head. "I am going to start having nightmares again," he said to himself as he ducked behind a bush. He waited for a none too ladylike scream to block out the noise before he made a dash across the courtyard. He took a breath and glanced at his surroundings. It was black all around him but he saw the lights of the Hotel to his right. He reached in his pocket and pulled out the phone he'd purloined from Heather and called Lisbon. No reply. "Hmm," he frowned. "Must still be with Mashburn," he remarked with an eye roll. Then he called Cho's number but it was busy. "Damn, where the hell is everybody?"

From his vantage point he saw the two lovers still suitably occupied with each other but the way were going at it he didn't expect them to be for much longer, Eugene was running out of puff, so to speak. "Yep," he shuddered. "Definitely nightmares."

A path was illuminated that led to the hotel but it was directly in the view of Heather who now had her back to the wall and her legs wrapped around Eugene's torso. Due to the limited time he had left where he might go unobserved he said, "Okay," steadying himself. "Here goes."

He made a mad dash up the path ahead, keeping his eyes straight and ignoring the screams of Heather as she pushed Eugene off her."Get after him, Eugene! He's getting away!"

Jane heard a loud thud behind him as Eugene presumably fell to the ground. Jane grinned and picked up speed as he imagined the man with his pants around his ankles, pleased he didn't have to bear witness to that particular image. He was panting as he made it to the kitchens, almost empty now in the middle of the night. A frowning Chavez with a room service tray met him, "Mr Jane?"

"Sorry, can't talk," Jane breathed, lifting the glass of clear liquid off his tray and swallowing it in one. He began to choke as Chavez's eyes widened. "Jesus, vodka!" he coughed, hanging on to Chavez's shoulder. "I thought it was water!"

He heard the doors behind him open with a crash and he took a breath. He rolled his eyes at the bewildered man before him and ran out of the kitchen and straight into Cho.

"Jane! Where'd you come from?" He frowned at him, "Have you been drinking?"

Jane panted and gestured to the doors behind him. "Draw your weapon!" he gasped as an exceedingly livid Eugene Smith rolled through them as Jane cowered behind Cho.

* * *

"What the hell do you mean she's missing now?" Jane half yelled across the reception area as Cho led him towards the elevators after he handed Smith off to other FBI agents and arranged for Heather Newell to be picked up.

"Hang on," Cho responded as he dragged him off into a quiet corner. "She went looking for you. We found her gun and some blood at the scene in the basement."

"What were you thinking of letting her go anywhere alone to find me?"

"You ever try to stop Lisbon do something she wants to do?"

Jane puffed out a breath and nodded, conceding the point. "Okay. What's the plan to find her then?"

"Well we were thinking that the same people who took you took her too. That's what we were working on. When we got the ransom demand from Smith just before you called it was only then we realised we were looking for other perpetrators. Obvious then he didn't have you both. Wylie got a lead to the warehouse, that's where I was headed."

"Yeah, those two idiots had enough trouble with one of us never mind both of us."

"We have forensics going over the scene. FBI are sweeping the grounds. We're about to reach out to local Law Enforcement to assist. It's only been an hour, Jane."

"Local Law Enforcement? If they're anything like the two buffoons I met before then frankly I don't hold out much hope, Cho."

Worry seeped through his face as he stared at his old friend. Quietly, "We need to find her, Kimball. I-I've only just got back and well...we-"

"Yeah, I figured. You're having sex now," he replied stoically.

Jane coloured a little. Under his breath, "Well...not quite...if only but..." Louder, "Anyway, yes, we're together. I can't lose her after just finding her again."

"We'll find her," Cho assured him. "Wylie's checking all the cameras he can get hold of for any signs of her." Jane's expression unchanged he added, "And by the way, if you ever hurt her now you are together they'll never find your body."

As Cho walked off and tapped him on the arm as a rare sign of affection Jane smiled. That and his threat of actual bodily harm actually made him feel better.

* * *

"She damn well broke my nose!" the thin man said to his larger colleague. "So much for thinking she was a piece of class!"

Officer Lawrence raised his eyes to heaven and shuffled over to his colleague. "Damn it, Reg. Let me see. Get your hands off it!"

Lisbon stared at the keystone cops from the back of their squad car and shook her head. "You're lucky I didn't shoot you!" she shouted, her handcuffs rattling in front of her. "Now, call the damn FBI like I told you to when you cuffed me! I work for them!"

"You be quiet," Lawrence told her as he attended to his partner. He addressed him, "It's not broken Reg so stop acting like a baby."

He turned towards Lisbon, his hefty stomach close to her face as he leaned down to talk to her. She grimaced and drew her head back. "Now listen here, little lady. You were caught in the basement brandishing a gun and then you assaulted my colleague here."

"I only assaulted him because he didn't identify himself as a cop and came up behind me! What the hell else was I going to do!"

Lawrence shrugged. "So you say. Way I see it we have you on assault to start with." He called to his partner, "Reg, show me the gun she had."

Reg Collins frowned as he stuck two pieces of tissue up his nostrils to quell the bleeding. "Huh? What are you talking about Harry? You took the gun."

Lawrence turned back to his friend. "No. I asked _you_ to pick it up. I said 'got the gun?' and you said 'yeah, okay'."

Collins replied in a nasally tone, "No you said, 'got the gun', you know like you...got it."

Lisbon's eyes widened as she watched the fiasco between the two dumbest cops she'd ever seen. If Jane weren't missing she would actually be laughing her ass off at the display of ineptitude in front of her.

Lawrence stated, "No I meant-"

"Jesus! Can one of you two idiots just call the damn FBI!" she yelled. "They will be looking for me."

"Well we know that little miss," Lawrence replied in his most condescending tone that made her hands turn to fists. "Looking for a killer, ain't they? And there you were with a gun in the basement. Doesn't look good, does it? No way are you a FBI agent like you said. We're not dumb, you know. Using that ploy to make your escape or somethin'. We're waiting for our sheriff to arrive. No way the Feds are taking the credit for this bust," he remarked proudly.

Lisbon shook her head and closed her eyes as she sank into the back seat. She could only hope their sheriff was not as stupid as the two men in front of her.

* * *

In the front of the squad car the radio squeaked to life and she opened her eyes, frowned and leaned forward to hear it better. "Hey!" she shouted to her two captors who were parading outside like proud peacocks. "You're being called for assistance!"

Lawrence rolled his eyes and opened the front door of the car, reaching in for the radio. As he listened to the dispatcher Lisbon watched as his face turned from overconfident to panic stricken. She grinned as his eyes widened looking at her as he heard the call for help in helping track down Teresa Lisbon. She was named as a valuable asset to the FBI and not an agent, more than likely a way of Fischer trying to retain some semblance of cover for her. He radioed back his location and released her from her handcuffs. "Told you," she remarked, smiling as the man paled before her.

Minutes later a black SUV arrived and Cho got out, taking a breath when he saw her in one piece with Fischer alongside him. As she was about to ask about Jane she saw the back door open and he exited, smiling as he came towards her.

"Oh thank, god," she said as she quickened her pace towards him. "You're okay?" she asked as she got closer. She touched the back of his head, caked in blood. "What happened to you?"

"Meh, nothing really, was just dragged to witness a live sex show I didn't want to see," he smiled. "Not like you, punching your fellow coppers indeed," he laughed. "Isn't there some rule about assaulting brothers in arms and all that?"

She frowned and then grinned as she remembered the vision she'd seen of Walter Mashburn earlier. "Live sex show? Yeah, I almost saw one of those myself tonight," she laughed.

It was obvious from Jane's expression he hadn't been filled in on that particular titbit but she was sure he would enjoy hearing all about it later. He'd probably ask to be told it twice. She was suddenly enveloped in a hug and she hugged him back. "Don't ever do that to me again, all right?" he whispered in her ear, his voice raw.

"That goes for you too," she breathed.

They loosened their grip and he was aware of Cho and Fischer behind them watching before he got carried away.

"You need to get that cut checked out first," she told him. "And fill me in on how you got it."

"It's fine, you sound like Cho, my dear." He leaned down towards her ear again. "You can kiss it better later though if you want."

She blushed but then surprised him by kissing him gently on the lips as he moved his head. "You know we're being watched, Teresa."

She shrugged, kissing him again. This time he deepened it slightly and his arms grew tighter around her waist again. "At this moment I don't care."

He grinned and kissed her back passionately before remarking, "When Van Pelt hears about this she'll make a killing, you understand."

"Come on you two," Cho ordered from behind them. "I swear it's like watching my brother and sister make out," he said to Fischer beside him.

Jane and Lisbon looked at each other and laughed. "Brother and sister? Seriously?" Lisbon commented.

Holding on to her hand he walked her back towards the vehicle as Fischer and Cho opened the doors.

Fischer looked at one then the other, her lips quirking into approval as they took their seats in the back, still holding hands. "Glad to see you back, Lisbon." She glanced at Jane. "He was a pain in the ass and he only knew you were missing ten minutes ago."

"Really?" Lisbon smiled, looking sideways at Jane.

"Meh. Utter exaggeration."

* * *

Approaching the Hotel Fischer told them, "We've got a few hours rest then we reconvene at 7am, Abbott's on his way."

"Oh crap," Lisbon replied sullenly.

"Yep," Jane said, "Couldn't have put it better myself." She looked at their hands still locked together and suddenly withdrew hers from his, panic stricken at the thought of their boss discovering they were a real couple.

When they got to their room Jane hugged her again. "Look, I know you're worried about Abbott finding out about us-"

"Of course I am, Jane. I've only just joined the FBI. It looks really bad. And unprofessional when we're supposed to be on a case. Oh god, I wasn't thinking straight when I kissed you earlier-"

"Jeez, thanks," Jane laughed as he released her and began searching for some clean pyjamas.

"You know what I mean. Fischer's going to tell him and-"

"Believe me, Fischer's not going to say a word," he grinned.

"But she's a stickler," she argued.

He smiled devilishly at her. "Not as much as you might think it seems, my dear."

"What do you mean?"

"Let's get changed and I'll fill you in on what I observed in the car on the way back here." He paused what he was doing and narrowed his eyes at her, "And you absolutely _have_ to tell me what happened with Mashburn earlier."

* * *

Fischer paced up and down in Wylie's hotel room, the base of their operation, as they waited on Abbott's arrival. Cho said, "Sit down, you'll wear a hole in that."

Jane lounged on the bed reading a magazine as Lisbon sat in a chair beside him, studying the dynamic before her. She leaned over to whisper to Jane, "Are you sure about those two?"

He raised his eyes over the magazine and darted glances at Cho and Fischer. "100 percent."

"Wow, must be something in the air," she concluded just as a loud knock came to the door.

"Sir," Fischer said as she opened it and was faced with a downright surly Abbott. "Agent Fischer," he said as he entered the room and looked around him with a shake of the head. All heads bowed but Cho's and Jane's. Cho regarded him with a blank expression and Jane smiled at him, "Hey, Dennis, you feeling left out of all the action up here?"

Lisbon frowned at him and he shrugged unapologetically, tossing the magazine beside him and putting his hands behind his head.

"Sir," Fischer began. "I know what you must think-"

"Do you?" he bellowed. "Then please by all means do let me know, Agent Fischer."

She baulked immediately under his inquisitive stare and stammered, "I-I admit, there have been some mistakes made but we are making progress in this case. Jane thinks he has identified the killer. He's being held right at this minute, we're getting ready to question him."

"That Fischer is the only possible bright spark in this whole damn disaster you're running here! But do enlighten me on one matter. How on earth was Jane kidnapped and you had no knowledge of it? What exactly is the point of having a camera in their room if no one is monitoring it?!"

"Why have one at all I say," Jane remarked calmly, glancing at Lisbon sideways. "I'd say we'd be better off removing it altogether."

"It is there for a good purpose, Jane," Abbott glowered. "To save your sorry ass if you're attacked."

"Good job with that by the way," Jane smiled as he rubbed the back of his head. At least getting whacked on the head had allowed him and Lisbon to make out in the bathroom a little the night before as she tended to it.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Fischer push her shoulders back, all set to confess to what she and Cho were most likely up to when he was abducted. "Sir-" she started.

"Look it doesn't matter what happened, Dennis," Jane interrupted. "Past is the past and I'm sure everyone has learned their lesson." He shot a glance at Cho. "Right?" he continued.

"Jane's right," Cho added, getting off his chair. "It was my fault. I took my eye off the ball. Won't happen again. Put a note in my file."

"No-" Fischer interrupted weakly.

"And I shouldn't have left Jane alone," Lisbon commented. "Put a note in my file too."

"Well that was a call for mercy," Jane sniggered. He couldn't wait until he saw Mashburn next. He just wished Lisbon had thought to take a photograph. She glared at him knowingly and he grinned in response.

Abbott narrowed his eyes at the people in the room. A cover up of some kind was obviously going on here as they closed ranks to cover each other's asses. He breathed deeply, "People, we are rapidly becoming a laughing stock. If local Law Enforcement were not nincompoops themselves then I would be disciplining the whole lot of you! Now, get your heads together and back in the game!"

A solemn moment passed as heads nodded. Then, "Ah...what game is that?" Jane asked him innocently with a smirk.

Abbott closed his eyes and shook his head. "Jane, do yourself a favour. For once in your life shut the hell up," he said with a heavy sigh as he rubbed his temple.


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: Brooke back with this one. Shena is up next. And thanks and welcome to all the recent new followers to this light hearted tale!**

* * *

Chapter 17 - Caught

Abbott paced the hotel room trying in vain to keep his stress levels to a manageable state. Ever since bringing Patrick Jane back from South America he was totally convinced his blood pressure has risen to new dangerous levels and he had only been working with the man less than two months. His team were covering up something and if they had managed to convince Agent Fischer to remain tight lipped then it was certainly something worth knowing.

Realising he wasn't going to get any answers with them covering each other backs Abbott decided to put his own devious plan into action. Whilst he may be supervising agent dealing with all the bureaucratic nonsense that came with his superior position, he did still have a few sneaky skills left up his sleeve. He had managed to find and convince the notorious Patrick Jane to return to the States and work for the FBI for a start so he was fairly confident he could discover the truth of what his team were trying to hide about this case.

The way to get answers and to the bottom of this mystery was simple. Divide and conquer the pack. In this case that was newcomer Agent Lisbon. Having worked with her for a few months Abbott was already aware of what a terrible liar she was. She was honest through and through. If anyone was going to give the game away it was her. Abbott paused his anxious pacing, giving a small unseen devious grin before plastering back on his angry boss expression and barking orders.

"Right. Fischer, Cho. Take Jane with you down to the local PD station and interview Thomas. If this guy is our killer, I am sure you guys can break him after a night of being left in the cells to sweat. Wylie, you need to get back to your undercover assignment before staff start questioning things and Lisbon, we will stay and work on the surveillance videos whilst Jane is gone and get a clean conviction on the kidnapping case. We need to make sure these buffoons aren't working alongside the killer. I want this serial killer case closed people, before we have any more fiascos happen that make us the laughing stock."

"But I'm on my honeymoon," Jane whinged, not really interested in having to work the case. He was starting to enjoying his fake vacation time with Lisbon, ridiculous kidnapping aside. He was also enjoying all the fuss he was currently receiving from Lisbon since being kidnapped and given a nasty bump to the head.

"And we don't even know that this guy is our killer. Still other leads to investigate. One of them could be our psycho," Jane said confidently hoping to persuade Abbott otherwise.

"But you said you were 90% sure of Lenny Thomas being involved? You even found the same daisies in his store room," Fischer interrupted confused by Jane's sudden u-turn about the bar manager.

Jane rolled his eyes skywards at the woman for not catching on quicker to what he was trying to get out of. Ignoring Fischer completely he made his way across the hotel room to come face to face with Abbott.

"It will look odd if Lisbon and I aren't seen, we are supposed to be on our honeymoon so we should be off doing romantic honeymooning stuff. We were going to go for a swim in the hotel pool this afternoon." Jane grinned looking over his shoulder at Lisbon and giving her a playful wink. He had been looking forward to springing that fun honeymoon activity on her and getting his chance to see Lisbon wet in a skimpy bathing suit. He may not be able to make love to the woman like he wanted but he could enjoy other small pleasures where he could grab them.

Lisbon's eyes widened in horror, her cheeks turned a bright shade of pink when she spotted the rest of the team giving each other knowing smirks by Jane's unexpected announcement.

"Besides I can't possibly go. It will blow our undercover mission if I interview Thomas. Doctors say I need to rest after my head injury and traumatic kidnapping experience," Jane told him firmly laying it all on very thick. Jane eyed the African American suspiciously. He was pretty sure Abbott was trying some sort of ploy to separate them but the bigger question was why.

"Fine. You and Lisbon go down to breakfast then afterwards Jane can go to the Local PD with Cho and Fischer, we will tell people you are giving an official statement about your 'traumatic' kidnapping experience," Abbott said giving sarcastic theatrical air quotes around the word traumatic. "Thomas is being held in the cells but you can go and observe the interview without him knowing you are there, get a read on him properly under questioning."

It was time to play out his ace card and call his new troublesome consultant's bluff.

"Unless of course you think you're not up to it, Patrick. I mean, maybe after two years away from solving crimes, lazing around all day in a skirt and tending to your pot plants it's dampened that special Patrick Jane magic you once had."

Abbott gave a smirk as he patted Jane sympathetically on the shoulder walking towards the exit knowing that a man like Patrick Jane wouldn't be able to back down from that challenge and ego blow. A man like Jane always needed to be the smartest man in the room no matter what the sacrifice.

Jane gave an amused chuckle knowing exactly what game Abbott was playing at but at the same time couldn't let that final statement stand between them. He hadn't lost his magic, far from it. If anything he was even more on form than before, especially with no Red John or revenge plan to take over his life anymore. The only reason he hadn't wrapped this case up sooner was because he hadn't given any real conviction to it and had wanted to spend more time with the woman he loved in this beautiful romantic setting. Jane inhaled a deep breath knowing Abbott had played the game well and won this round.

"Fine. We will go down to breakfast and show our faces and then I will go down the station," Jane barked. "But I am coming back this afternoon, case closed or not." Jane moved across the room lifting Lisbon up by the elbow guiding her quickly out of the hotel room. He was annoyed and peeved he had been well and truly manipulated by his new supervisor but he would be the last one laughing when he showed Abbott how on form he really was.

* * *

After eating their breakfast and being served by a very moody and rude Mandy the waitress, Lisbon and Jane made their way out of the dining room.

"Well that was fun," Jane snapped sarcastically as he rubbed a napkin down his suit jacket trying to remove a stain on his lapel. "What the hell did you say to her the other night? She practically threw our breakfasts at us. I am just grateful we weren't ordering the soup." Lisbon chuckled knowing her parting words to Mandy about Walter was the reason for the woman's hostility towards them.

As they crossed the busy reception lobby they spotted Cho and Fischer waiting by the revolving doors for Jane to arrive. Cho stepped forward greeting them both, making his voice loud enough for others nearby to hear.

"Mr and Mrs Jane, I am Agent Cho, this is Agent Fischer, we need you to come down to the station with us and make a statement about what happened yesterday. There's no need to worry we have both suspects in custody. It's just a formality. We realise you're on your honeymoon but we need you to make a statement officially, Mr Jane," Cho said convincingly like he hadn't ever met the man in front of him before today.

"Ok, if I must," Jane grumbled. He turned his attention back to his wife. "I will only be gone a few hours sweetie, you go upstairs and relax and I will be back as quick as I can." Jane didn't give her a chance to respond and wrapped an arm around her waist pulling her in for a kiss goodbye. The shock of his move made her squeak in surprise, which in turn gave him even more access to insert his tongue fully into mouth and deepen their kiss further. He slid his hand down her back slowly moving it over the cheek of her ass. It was then Lisbon's brain cells kicked in to what he was doing. She pushed back breaking the kiss and giving him a telling glare for trying to push his luck. Especially in front of their colleagues.

Jane grinned widely, highly amused by her little annoyed pout, quickly pecking her lips once more. "I love you," he whispered before making his way to the exit followed by their team mates. Lisbon felt all eyes of the lobby now looking at her. She awkwardly made her way towards the elevators needing to get away from prying eyes. Whilst she knew they were on an undercover mission as a loved up honeymoon couple and shouldn't be worried about others seeing their public displays of affection, at the same time their new romantic acts were now in fact very real and she wasn't used to being so publicly open about her feelings.

Stepping into the elevator she felt her cell starting to vibrate inside her jeans pocket. She pulled the phone out and sighed exhaustingly looking at the name on the screen. "Walter," she stated rolling her eyes. "For the love of god what does he want now?" grumpily answering the call.

* * *

An hour later Jane stood leaning his shoulder up against the wall of the viewing room sipping on some lukewarm liquid that claimed to be tea. He had been carefully studying Lenny Thomas through the two-way mirror. Officer Collins, sporting a nasty black eye that Lisbon had given him the day before, had brought him up from the cells twenty minutes previous. Thomas showed no signs of being affected by his time in lock up. In fact, Jane was perplexed at how calm the man seemed to be with his sudden arrest. Jane hadn't found any psychopathic tendencies about him on first sight but then that's what made for a good serial killer. They were extremely good at hiding their real selves out in plain sight.

The door behind him squeaked open revealing Agent Fischer carrying a large case file in her hand. "Here, read these. They are personal records on Thomas that Wylie got for us. Cho is just finishing up chatting with the chief and then we will be ready to start." Fischer moved to stand beside Jane and looking through the mirror at the suspect.

"Uh, I wanted to thank you for earlier. Back there… with Abbott, I mean," Fischer said sheepishly still feeling extremely guilty about Jane's ordeal. "It was my fault why you got kidnapped and hurt. I am sorry. You have every right to tell Abbott."

"Meh, I have suffered a lot worse. Plus, I didn't think there was any need to get anyone in trouble over it. No harm, no foul. I made it back in one piece. I am sure you didn't mean to lose focus on the screen." Jane smirked over the rim of his tea cup at the embarrassed brunette.

"Thank you. I appreciate it. I owe you," Fischer said moving around Jane towards the connecting door to the interview room.

"Hmmm. Well, now that you mention it. I need you to not inform Abbott about my and Lisbon's new relationship development. We are trying to still find out feet and we don't need any outside interference, you know, with Lisbon being new to the job."

"If Abbott asks me Jane, it's my job to tell him as team leader. I mean, he already thinks you are a couple, will it really matter if it's actually true?" Fischer asked uneasy with Jane's request.

"No, but Lisbon is a private person and we want our business kept that way. I mean, I am sure you understand that Kim, you wouldn't want the whole of the bullpen knowing how you're now sleeping with Cho and how your sexual escapades got a fellow consultant kidnapped and seriously injured now, would you?" Jane replied sipping on his tea again and smirking at the horrified look crossing the female's agent's face.

Fischer's mouth gaped open in shock that Jane knew what had really happened the night he had gotten kidnapped and that he was now using it as some form of blackmail.

"We are not sleeping together. It was a one off and… and…. I… I...You…I. Fine!" she spat angrily. "I won't say anything. You know, you really are a sneaky son of a-"

"Ooo look, Cho here's," Jane grinned cutting her off mid insult and pointing to the other side of the mirror as Cho entered the interview room. Fischer huffed angrily storming from the room leaving Jane giggling at her. Cho sat down opposite a nonchalant Thomas not saying anything and waiting for Fischer to join him. She stomped into the room and slammed the case file down on the table yanking her chair out.

"You okay?" Cho asked quietly sensing her disgruntled mood from a mile away.

"Yep, fine," Fischer replied glancing furiously back at Jane through the two-way mirror.

"Mr Thomas, do you know why you are here?" Fischer asked firmly not wasting any time and taking her frustrations out on the suspect in front of her.

"No comment."

"You are here because we believe you to be involved in the series of murders at Niagara Niagrara Hotel. We found these in your bar. Do you know what they are?" Fischer slid pictures of the daisies that were discovered in the store room across the desk. Thomas kept his eyes focused forward not bothering to glance at the pictures placed in front of him.

"No comment."

"Why do you have daisies hidden in the bar, Mr Thomas? Do you know the killer leaves these exact type of daisies at every murder scene as a calling sign?" Cho added speaking for the first time.

"No comment."

"Have you ever met these people? Do you remember them staying at the hotel? Drinking in your bar during their stay?" Cho asked. Fischer slid more pictures across the desk of several murdered couples but again Thomas chose to ignore them, unaffected by the bloody images in front of him.

"No comment."

Cho sighed, sitting back in his chair becoming increasingly frustrated by Thomas's silence. There weren't too many suspects in this world that he couldn't break but Leonard Thomas looked like he was one of them.

"Mr Thomas. Are you married? Girlfriend? Boyfriend?" Fischer asked him changing the line of questioning seeing that Cho was becoming more frustrated by the man.

Thomas gave a small flinch at the talk of marriage but composed himself quickly. "No comment."

As Fischer went to ask another question a loud knock on the mirror stopped her. "Excuse me," Cho stated quickly getting up from the table disappearing out the room via the connecting door. He returned a few minutes later and re took his seat beside Fischer. Cho placed his hands and some report papers on the table whilst calmly observing Thomas.

"Uh, sorry, uh, where were we…" Fischer said distracted to why Cho hadn't said anything on his return.

"Marriage Mr Thomas? Have you ever been married?" Cho interrupted leaning forward and studying the man's reactions.

"No comment," Thomas replied though gritted teeth.

"It says here you applied for a marriage licence back in 1996. To a Miss Doreen-Ann Carter but it was never officiated. Want to tell us why that was?"

Thomas scoffed shaking his head giving his first real response since the interview started. Realising that Cho's word finally had had an effect Fischer quickly followed suit.

"Did she call the wedding off? Dump you?" Fischer asked coldly.

"She was a whore and I had a lucky escape," Thomas snapped bitterly hitting his hand down hard on the table in anger.

"What about family?" Again Thomas' eyes darkened by the line of questioning.

Jane watched keenly as he placed his cold tea down on the table next to him knowing his hunch on discussing the man's family and personal life was the key to breaking him. Jane tapped once against the mirror to let know Cho know they were on the right path and to keep going.

"Says here you have a brother? Mark. Lives in Canada? Are you close?"

"Mark's an idiot."

"Hmmmm, says here your idiot brother left the states 10 years ago to start up his own business, his own bar, very successful too, now has a chain of bars and restaurants all across Canada. He opened another two this year. He inherited a lot of money after your father died, didn't he?" Cho said raising his eyebrows as he read the figure of the inheritance on the papers in front of him. "Also says you weren't included in your father's will. Why was that?"

"That is none of your business. My father was cruel mean son of a bitch and Mark is just a pathetic scrounging selfish jackass womanizer who thinks he can go around doing what he wants with who he wants. He was exactly like daddy dearest."

Suddenly the connecting door swung open revealing Jane strolling in with a keen eager gleam in his eyes. Thomas frowned instantly recognising the blond man from the hotel walking into the room. "Jane! What are you doing?" Fischer hissed panicking at Jane openly revealing himself to the suspect.

"Your brother? Why did he leave?" Jane asked sharply.

"What?" Thomas looked toward the agents for an explanation as to why a hotel guest was suddenly asking the questions.

"I asked you why did Mark leave the States?" Jane asked again.

"I don't know…. Why are YOU here?"

"Yes you do! You made him leave. You threatened him, didn't you? But the bigger question is why?" Jane began pacing the small grey cell like room tapping his finger against his lips in deep thought ignoring the shocked looks of the other three people in the room.

"You don't know what you're talking about. Listen I have had enough of this crap, either charge me with something or let me go!" Lenny said angrily.

"Ah! The girl. Doreen! Of course."

"Jane stop…" Fischer told him, seeing that suspect was close to losing his cool as he clenched his fists the more Jane goaded him.

"Shut up! You don't know what you're talking about."

"It's easy now I see it." Jane clapped his hands together in an overly happy gesture. "What makes the world go around? Anyone?" Jane asked the room aiming his question more towards his colleagues.

"Love?" Fischer said unsure of her own answer.

"Money," Cho said confidently.

"Exactly. And that's what this has been all about. Your brother robbed you of your inheritance. Not only of your money, but your woman too. Didn't he?"

"Shut up you don't know what you are talking about!" Thomas repeated, his breathing becoming heavier and shorter as his fists banged against the table.

"I think this is all because your brother slept with your fiancée and then she dumped you just before the wedding. According to reports you were born and bred in Maine and moved up here 19 years ago, six months after the marriage licence was issued in fact. Ah!" Jane said clapping his hands together again as another answer suddenly came to him. Jane laughed out loud, clearly finding way too much enjoyment in all this.

"This was where you were meant to come on your honeymoon, wasn't it? Niagara Falls. You came here hoping to get over her but you couldn't. You kept all that hurt and anger bottled up for years until one day something snapped. All these people were happy, staying in luxury and in love and you killed them for it." Jane stabbed his finger on the pictures of the victims laid spread out on the table. "You killed them out of pure spite and jealousy. All because your fiancée spread her legs for your brother and dumped your sorry poor ass for him instead."

"SHUT THE HELL UP!" Thomas jumped up lurching himself at Jane knocking over his chair in the process. "You know nothing. Nothing!"

Jane jumped back in fear stumbling as the man grabbed for his neck but Cho quickly reacted by grabbing Thomas's arm painfully up his back and slamming him hard down against the interview table. Officers Lawrence and Collins bundled through the interview room door at hearing the loud commotion quickly taking a fighting and squirming Thomas from Cho's hold.

"She was a cheap dirty whore bitch. I had a lucky escape and my son of a bitch brother always had to take what was mine, he couldn't bear to see me happy. You're all deluded in this world. There is no such thing as love. It's all fabricated bullshit hidden behind sexual lust. Some fairy tale you watch on TV you all believe in. I was doing those folks a favour by putting a bullet in their heads… and I should have done the same to you and that pretty little wife of yours!" Lenny spat loudly.

Thomas paused, shutting his eyes when he realised what he had just said during his angry rant in front of FBI Agents and two police officers. "Leonard Thomas you are under arrested for 10 counts of murder. Anything you say will be given in evidence against you. Take him back to the cells until processing," Cho ordered the two local officers.

"You got nothing on me. Nothing and you know it. You have no evidence. I will say you forced me to say it!" Thomas shouted as he was dragged from the interview room.

"Nice work," Cho complimented Jane, impressed by his hunch turning out to be correct once again.

"Meh, easy really, when you know what it is to trigger them off," Jane replied smugly, proud of himself and gladly proving Abbott's theory wrong.

Walking out of the interview room still hearing the echoed rants of Thomas down the hall, Fischer spoke to her colleagues. "We still need to find some firm evidence though or he could get let off. His crazy anger fuelled confession might not be enough to convict him on."

"Hmmmm, check out the brother and the old fiancée I am sure they can confirm what I said," Jane suggested.

"We may want to check out the hotel staff quarters too," Cho added. "Wylie says sometimes after a late night shift at the bar Thomas sleeps there in one of the staff bedrooms. Now that we have him in custody, you should be able to get a full search warrant for his belongings."

"Well, I think my work here is done," Jane announced stretching his arms up and rubbing the back of his sore head. "If one of you two little lovebirds would be kind enough to drop me back to the hotel I think it's time for my lunch time nap."

"Give me ten minutes and I will take you back," Cho nodded ignoring Jane's little lovebird comment and entering the main part of the police station to speak to the chief in charge. Jane felt his phone vibrating in his suit pocket.

"Hey Wyllie, how's life as a hotel aerobics instructor today? What! She's what… okay I will be right there." Jane ended the call quickly heading across the busy police precinct to the exit. Seeing a flash of panic come across Jane's face Fischer called out after him.

"Is everything ok? Is Lisbon hurt?"

"No. Worse. She is having lunch with Mashburn," Jane said practically running into Cho as he left. "Forget the ride Cho. I am catching a cab."

"What's wrong with him?" Cho asked as he watched the consultant disappear through the station's swinging doors. Fischer shook her head in confusion not quite sure what was so upsetting about Lisbon having lunch. "God knows. Who the hell is this Mashburn?"


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: Penultimate chapter from Shena. This one is M rated for your enjoyment. Mayzee back with last chapter next. Thanks again for all your support.**

* * *

Chapter 18 – Success

He turned the corner near the restaurant beside the lobby and peered through the glass enclosure, looking around quickly for any small brunettes sitting with a black-haired man who looked like he wiped his nose with one-hundred dollar bills. Though he felt a twang of jealousy that Lisbon was apparently having lunch with Mashburn, he knew it was in Lisbon's nature to want to see old faces off with a pat on the proverbial shoulder.

He didn't see them anywhere in the full lounge, though. His eyes were keen and aware; his face held expressionless as he searched from side-to-side once more in case he missed them. His second sweep of the place yielded the same results as his previous four: nothing. She didn't seem to be in the lounge at all. He wasn't certain if this concerned him or made him feel better.

"She's not here, Patrick," he heard a familiar, soft, silky voice say from behind him. "I tried to get her to stay and have some lunch with me," he went on as Jane turned around and grimaced, "but she had somewhere else to be, apparently."

Jane's breath of relief must have shown because Mashburn smiled a crooked grin at him and put his hands in his pockets, swaying on the balls of his feet. Jane stepped forward and nodded his head infinitesimally at him in acknowledgement. Mashburn lifted one hand from his pocket and pointed it at Jane.

"You were drawn to that damaged intensity, I see," he told him, the smile still firmly on his lips.

"Oh, you know…" Jane trailed off, smiling now. "Kind of hard not to be." He shared a laugh with Walter. "So, do you know where she is? Did she mention anything to you?"

He watched as Mashburn dug into his pocket and produced a set of keys. He reached out for them when he was offered them. Walter pointed to them in the palm of Jane's hand and shrugged one broad shoulder.

"She told me to give you these," Mashburn told him. "She said she wanted to go check out something at the Spa, and told me to tell you to meet her there." He stuffed his hand back in his pocket and looked behind Jane at the reception desk. "Ah, I see my things have been brought down."

"Heading off?" Jane asked, stuffing the keys into his vest pocket. "Europe?" Jane guessed. "I suppose after the embarrassing scene you were found in…"

"Embarrassing?" Walter scoffed at that. "I have been in that spot many times willingly." He winked at the blond consultant. "Business never sleeps, Patrick," he told him with a grin. "It merely closes its eyes for a minute." Walter flashed his teeth before walking around Jane. "Patrick?" he called, turning around quickly.

"Yeah, Walter?"

"If you ever hurt her for any reason, I will make it my sole mission to bring you to your knees." He turned away from him then, walking to the receptionist desk and disappearing around the corner.

He didn't waste a moment more standing there. He was half-tempted to call Abbott or Cho for back up, but he didn't want to deal with Abbott's lectures, and something told him that Cho was busy with other things of a certain female Agent variety. Even Cho was getting some kind of action on this damn trip.

* * *

He arrived at the spa not long after, but the front door was locked. Picking the set of keys from his pocket, he opened the door to the seemingly quiet and still spa; the only sound he could hear was the sound of something coming from the mud bath room. He wasn't feeling especially courageous, only he didn't see much choice, and he was concerned about Lisbon. Treading into the spa, he shut the door silently behind him and trudged in a few feet, acknowledging for the first time a little blue light bouncing off the glass panel of the doorway.

"Teresa?" he called out, walking gradually toward the door, his eyes trained on the blue light being absorbed by the glass. "Are you here?" He received no answer. Peering through the glass, he could see the outline of Lisbon hunched down, her flashlight producing the blue beam he saw as she tucked it under her arm.

He looked around her, but could see nothing out of the ordinary. Maybe she was being quiet as to not disturb whatever she was here for. He opened the door, allowing it to close quietly behind him before walking forward toward her. She was facing away from him. He didn't call out to her for fear of scaring her and having her either accidentally shoot him or potentially scaring off anyone she was surveilling.

Coming up behind her, he pressed a hand to her shoulder in an attempt to gain her attention. Looking back at this later, he would realize that doing this to a trained Government Agent probably wasn't the best idea. Right now, he felt his wrist being grabbed and his knees knuckling from the swift kick her boot gave his legs. His knees slammed onto the concrete of the floor as she spun herself around, planting her body weight on him as she pinned him to the spot, pressing his body roughly to the floor.

"This is very sexy and all," he began, his face against the floor, "but I don't know if I am that flexible anymore."

"Jane?" He felt her raise herself off his spine, holding onto his arm to help him up. "What the hell? Where were you?"

As he brushed himself off and attempted to loosen his back muscles up, he shrugged. "Walter said you told me to meet you here!" He winced, as if in pain. "I thought you were in danger. Clearly, the only one in danger was _me_."

"I'm sorry," she told him, brushing off his back and butt from concrete dust. "What do you mean Walter told you I said I'd meet you here? He said the…" she trailed off, catching up quickly. "That bastard."

"Clearly, he must have figured out we needed some alone time. He must have bargained a deal. He wouldn't tell anyone about the incident with Mandy and make the hotel suffer monetarily if they allowed him the spa for a night. Rather generous of him." Jane looked around, noticing the light switch next to the door he came through. He walked over and flicked it on.

"Wow," Lisbon exclaimed, her eyes darting around at the mud bath pits that lined the floor and sunk in like swimming pools. The dusty light illuminated the grayish clay filling each pit to nearly the top. "How romantic."

"Now, now," Jane replied, a smile creeping across his face. He walked back over to her and placed a hand on her cheek, rubbing gently with the pad of his fingers. "It's the thought that counts, Teresa," he whispered.

She stared at him incredulously. "You can't be serious! We are not pigs, Jane!" She shook her head sadly. "I don't want to roll around in there. It looks gross."

He tipped her head to the side and sank his lips to her throat column, following over the vein with his tender mouth. "Don't," he kissed her throat, "be," he kissed her jawline, "so," he kissed her chin, "grumpy." He kissed her mouth, centering her head once more. "It doesn't suit you."

"Jane…" she trained off, her sentence cut off by his fierce grip on her waistline and his desperation to bring her as near to him as possible.

"Shh," Jane whispered, bringing his lips to her ear. "Please let us have this, Teresa. We've certainly earned it. We deserve it."

His fingers slid across the denim of her waist, flexing over her button. With a gentle push, the button was undone and his fingers nimbly pulled on the zipper, pushing it down. He was thankful she hadn't worn a belt. His fingers grazed over the cotton under his palms as he felt for the hem of her shirt that had been tucked into her pants. He drew up and slid his palms up, bunching her shirt at his wrists, his hands traveling like a road map up her body, finally splaying across her ribs.

The contact of his hands on her hot skin broke her; her own hands rose up, following the contours of his forearms, up his biceps, around his shoulders and falling to his neck, her fingers pulling at the blond tail of hair at the base of his skull. Her lips parted, a sound somewhere between a groan and a plea fell from them, her hands pressing his lips to hers, pushing hard against them. Her right hand left his hair and fell to his vest, pulling at the buttons haphazardly, not seeing what she was doing, but trying to find the buttons and undo them as quickly as possible.

"Teresa?" Jane whispered against her lips, his hands finding her bra strap as they travelled up a little more under her shirt.

"All right," was all she answered, taking her other hand down to assist with the unbuttoning of his waistcoat. "Okay."

* * *

Wylie stood on a stool in Jane and Lisbon's room, screwdriver in hand to remove the camera. He pulled the camera off the wall and descended the ladder, placing the camera back in the black hard case. He looked over at Abbott, who was watching him with little interest. His eyes flew to Cho and Fischer, who were also watching him.

"Have you packed up your own rooms?" Abbott asked, looking from Agent to Agent. "We leave here this evening. Don't leave anything behind."

"What about Thomas, sir?" Fischer piped up.

"It's a local PD matter now," Abbott explained. "We assisted them, but now we leave them to it. We did our part."

"Sir…" Fischer tried to interject.

"Is there a particular reason you want to argue with me about this?" His eyes swung to Cho before swinging back to her. "We will leave here in the evening, and we will leave the suspect in the custody of the New York Police. Understood?" Fischer nodded. "Good."

Abbott walked around Wylie and exited the room. Wylie looked up and noticed the quiet that had fallen in the room. He smiled at the two of them. He didn't really want to know about their relationship, but he pretty much followed Jane's insinuations, and he knew both of them were a little embarrassed about it.

"He just needs some fun," Wylie told them. "Maybe get him onto the boat to go under the falls? Loosen him up?" Wylie suggested. "I could arrange it."

"You think waterfalls are going to take the huge stick out of his ass?" Fischer grumbled. "I don't think so."

"Well, maybe not," Wylie told them. "Who cares? The point is to have fun before we leave. I mean… maybe it could be fun for you two?" He didn't want to come right out and tell them he pretty much knew about their relationship. "Lisbon and Jane would be there, too."

Cho sighed. "I don't think that's such a good idea."

"Oh, Kimball," Fischer said with a roll of her eyes. "Don't be an old man! Come on! It would be fun. Please? For me?" she begged, turning toward the stoic Agent. "Let's get one fun thing in before we go back to Austin!"

Cho said nothing, but his face softened at her plea. Wylie smiled again and nodded his head. Cho's telephone rang. He stepped away to answer it as Wylie winked at Fischer.

"You know, don't you?" Fischer whispered. "About Kimball and I."

Wylie nodded. "Yeah."

She smiled at him sweetly. "Thank you, Jason."

"For what?" he asked in confusion.

"Tact."

"That was Abbott," Cho said, stepping back beside Fischer and stuffing his phone in his pocket. "The search warrant came in. We can go search his hidey hole in the staff bedrooms."

Fischer and Cho headed to the door. Kim put her hand on Wylie's shoulder and smiled as she followed Cho out of the room. Wylie picked up the hard case, following them out, closing the door behind him.

They took the elevator down to the floor that held the staff bedrooms, dropping Wylie off on his own floor. Stepping out from the elevator, Fischer looked at Cho and smiled.

"What?" he asked softly. "It's just that boats make me sick. The rocking back and forth." He shuddered slightly.

"It could be fun, Kimball. A date of sorts. Jane already knows about us, and so does Wylie." She blushed as Cho looked at her surreptitiously. "It's just I'd like to go somewhere fun with you, Kimball. Not seeing dead bodies or blood. Real fun!"

"Lisbon and Jane didn't have real fun and they are just fine, Kim," he replied.

They stepped in front of room 353. They didn't even knock on the door. Instead, Cho pulled out a master room key Abbott obtained, pressing open the door and allowing Kim to enter before entering himself and pushing the door closed behind them.

"That's not true," Fischer told him. "They had the walk under the falls and the ball. Sure, we were there at the ball, but it was a covert operation. They danced together and it was great. They clicked."

Cho overturned the bed, pushing the bedsheets off and kicking them with his feet. He turned his attention to her and sighed. He watched her open the dresser drawers and pull out his clothing, spreading them at her feet on the floor.

"We click," he told her.

She turned from the dresser and frowned. "Yes. We do. Which is precisely my point. It would be nice to go do something fun together, Kimball."

He nodded his head at her and got down on his hand and knees, taking his hand and sweeping underneath the box spring. He felt something. He pulled hard and the object fell into his palm. Carefully, he brought the object out. It was a box that had been taped to the cloth of the box spring.

"Got something," he announced, standing up and walking over to the dresser, sitting the box in front of them. He opened it and peered inside, Fischer over his shoulder. "It's ID cards." He shuffled through the first two. "It's the Summers' identification." He swiped through the rest of them. "It's the victims' names."

"So he is our man. We found our evidence. He won't be able to get out of this one."

"Yes," Cho said, placing the ID cards back in the box and closing the lid.

"Huh?"

"I'll take you on the boat tour, Kim," he told her, smiling a rare smile. "Let's make it official."

She smiled at him, turning to bring his lips to hers. "Thank you, Kimball."

"When I puke, it'll be free entertainment," he snickered against her mouth. "See if you kiss me then."

"I'd still kiss you, Kimball," she assured him. "Don't you worry about that."

She kissed him again, finally pushing his chest gently and grabbing the box from his hands. She left him standing there looking after her before finally turning with a smile and following her out of the dishevelled room.

* * *

She quivered faintly as his fingers moved back down her spine, the tips sliding softly until he felt the curve of her lower back underneath. His hands curled around the cloth of her shirt, raising it up and off her, letting go of her lips just enough to permit the fabric to slide past her face before bringing his mouth right back as he flipped the shirt over his shoulder onto the concrete floor.

She had successfully managed to pop all of the buttons on his vest and pushed it open, bringing her hands against the cotton of his white shirt, her fingers feeling the muscles behind the sheer material. He shrugged the vest off his body, throwing that onto the pile with her shirt before bringing his hands up to move loose hair that had flown onto her cheek to the back of her ear.

"So gorgeous," he whispered, feeling her fingers coil, drawing at his shirt to untuck it from his pants. "Warm and soft." His hands roamed over her bare shoulders, slipped down her arms and stroked her ribs as they earned their way to her back, pulling her closer against him.

"At least you won't pull a muscle," she laughed, lifting the white cotton of his shirt up. "And it's not as slippery as the shower." She watched as he let go of her back to reach up and pull the shirt from his back. "Safer," she whispered.

"Mm," he replied, chucking the shirt to the floor. "No soap dish for you to break, either."

She laughed at that as she looked down between them and toed off her boots and socks, kicking them aside and raising her gaze back up to his. Her eyes searched his bluish-green pools, and she could pick up the same thing reflected back at her in his: desire. She could feel it in her chest; a fire raising itself up and coursing through her veins. They had tried so many times to act on their feelings, but were hindered in doing so. There was nothing to stop them now. No cameras, sales ladies, Agents showing up at the wrong times… It was the two of them in a place where nobody could stop them from what they were about to do.

"Do you think they are looking for us?" she asked, bringing her hands to his slacks and popping the button open easily. "The team, I mean?" She drew his zipper down, pushing her hands into the open fly of his pants and sliding her palms to the indent of his hips on either side, squeezing firmly over his boxers.

"Who cares?" Jane replied insouciantly. "I assume they think you are with Mashburn and I went to stop you." He laughed at that thought. He felt his pants being tugged down, her hands bunching up the material as they slid down past his hips and upper legs. "I actually don't care, Teresa. I'm where I want to be." He stroked the bow of her side. "I assume you are, too."

She said nothing in response. Instead, she watched as Jane bent himself down to rid his body of his shoes and socks before reaching to remove his pants, tossing them away and straightening himself. He reached his hands around her back, tracing the curve of her backbone to her bra strap, unhooking it with precision and reaching to slide the straps down her bare freckled shoulders.

"Did you sense that with your mentalist skills?" she asked, arching an eyebrow as he pulled the lace from her and discarded it. "Neat trick."

"I suppose so," said Jane in reply. He leaned in and kissed her lips softly. He brought a hand up and lifted her chin as he broke the chaste kiss. "I'm never wrong about these things."

His hand skimmed down her throat, gliding past her collar bone and softly touching the delicate skin between her bare breasts. He heard her breathing intensify, pushing his free hand down to loop a finger in her jeans belt loop. The hand between her breasts slowly and methodically veered right, the pads of his fingers scraping against her nipple. He heard her inhale deeply as his thumb grazed her when he descended, floating across her ribs and falling to the belt loop to mirror the other side.

With his fingers on either side of her pants, he pulled down slowly, hearing and feeling the material slip from her hips. He felt her hands in his hair, pulling gently as he pushed them down to her ankles with his foot, allowing her to toe them off and kick them aside. He smiled at her, kissed her again, and turned from her, making his way to the edge of the semi-liquefied clay pit. He turned back to her and removed his boxers, throwing them beside him.

"Come on, Teresa," he said, beckoning her forward.

Lisbon looked from him to the pit and back again. She trapped her bottom lip between her teeth and stepped forward, walking to him. Jane reached out for her hand, taking it in his and squeezing it.

"Don't be so nervous, Teresa," he whispered. "Mud baths are good for the skin. It's like a facial for the body." He led her to the edge of the pit. "It'll be fine."

He let go of her hand and walked to the three steps that led directly into the muddy clay. He descended them, stepping into the mud in front of him. It squeaked as he waded through it, the mud coming up to his waist as he made his way to the other side. Lisbon could see that it was liquefied just enough to be soft and on the watery side; she noticed it stuck to his skin in patches, but wasn't thick like traditional mud baths.

"I don't know that this stuff is made to be in places we're going to be putting it!" Lisbon called out. That released a loud laugh from Jane. "I mean… is this even safe for… that?"

"People have been using paint during sex for thousands of years, Teresa," he told her. "Still do. Besides, this stuff is heavily regulated to be safe for human use." He lifted one clay-encrusted finger and beckoned her again. "Get in! It feels nice."

"I don't know…" she trailed off. She sighed. "Fine!" she finally said, removing her panties and throwing them aside. She walked slowly down the steps, dipping her toe in before walking into the mud.

"It feels sticky and slippery!" she called out, wading herself through the mud toward Jane. It came just below her bust line.

"Yes," Jane agreed. He reached out for her hand as she neared him. "The right consistency."

He brought her to him, pressing their wet and sticky bodies together, his hands reaching up to cradle her face. He kissed her softly at first, feeling the clay squeeze between his fingers and her skin. He tipped her head upward, his thumbs under her chin so he could access her mouth, providing deeper entry. When she groaned and her lips parted slightly, he inserted his warm tongue into her mouth, sweeping and tumbling.

Her hands came up to tangle in his golden locks, the clay from her hands tinging it with off-gray and stiffening the strands almost immediately. She kissed him just as severely as he was kissing her, pressing herself against him as the mud around them swirled. Her hands fell from his hair, running along his arms and pulling at his hands holding her face. He didn't respond when she drew them away.

Breaking the kiss, she brought his hands down, dipping them in the mud between them. Not losing her gaze with him, she brought his hands up all caked in the soft mud and guided them to the skin of her shoulders. With her muddy hands over his, she steered him up over her slender upper arms and to her breasts, locking her fingers with his as she guided his palms over her, pinching their fingers gently and allowing his rough, dirty skin to dance over her hardened nipples.

She had to admit to herself that the mud's coolness on her hot skin under their hands was erotic. The slipping of their hands on her breasts drove a sensation up her spine such as she hadn't felt in a long time. His eyes remained trained on hers, a smile playing on his lips as she slipped their hands under her breasts, smearing the clay across the underside and across her ribs. She slid their hands further, plunging them back down under the surface of the clay, drifting them through the pool, letting their hands find the contour of her body. Over her hips, across her belly and dipping lower.

"Not bad for somebody who wasn't overly keen on coming in," Jane observed, pressing a chaste kiss near her ear. He felt her direct his hands around her trim hips and around to her ass.

"Well, I had a very good reason to conquer my uncertainties," she told him, letting go of his hands that were resting on her butt and bringing hers around to encircle his waist.

He nodded his head at that and squeezed her ass cheeks. She could feel his hardness on her belly, the muddy water doing nothing to hinder the sensation pulsing through his warmth. Her hands drifted over the hollows at his hips, working her way to his hardness, stroking gently through the clay with her fingers from bottom to top and down again. The slipping of earthen between her fingers must have increased the feeling because Jane's eyes closed and a whimper slipped from his mouth.

"The clay," Lisbon commented, not stilling her wrist as she continued. "It actually increases suction."

"I know," he growled, causing her to laugh.

He opened one eye and reached a hand around to still her wrist. He gently pulled her hand away as he dropped a kiss on her neck and another on her lips. He reached down between them and took hold of himself at the base. With deliberate slowness, he positioned himself at her entrance, thankful that the clay provided easy lifting of her body to align with his. With squeaking of the suction from the clay, he pushed himself into her, sliding himself all the way to his hilt.

He could feel her rock herself to lean against his body as his own back rested against the side of the pit. One of her hands rested on his shoulder, while the other rested on the lip of the pit. His own hands came to wrap around her waist and the other flew up to her hair, squishing clay through the strands as he brought her mouth to his. With the leverage of her hand on the concrete lip and his broad shoulder, she lifted herself up to his tip, the cool clay moving and shifting around his groin as she slid herself back down on him.

The suction from the movement provided a sensation that pulsed through him; she could feel it with each pass over him. The kisses were abandoned as the buildup climbed, causing her head to nest between his shoulder and head, while his mouth nibbled on her earlobe and his hands fell to press her butt harder against him as he lifted her to his tip and let her guide herself back down.

There were no mumbles of incoherent words or talk of any kind. Instead, there were only the sounds of their bodies slipping against one another in the liquid clay, and moans that fell from each other's lips as he moved his hips within the clay and she moved herself down on him and back in repetitiveness. He could feel her falling closer to the edge as she tightened around him, her rhythm slowing down.

"Let go," he whispered in her ear. "I won't be far behind."

As if that gave her the cue, he felt her walls contract around his pulsing hardness and heard her call out softly in a near sob. Pressing into her a few more times, he came.

"Teresa," he whispered, letting her name fall from his lips and die as he held her firmly in his arms.

"Jane," she said back, leaning herself away from his body so she could plant a soft kiss on his lips.

They were quiet for a few moments, allowing themselves to come down from the high. Jane brought his hands up and wiped away a few beads of sweat from her forehead, leaving clay all along her skin. He kissed her and brushed some dry clay off her cheek before he pulled out of her and gathered her in his arms, allowing her to rest her head against his muddy chest.

"Finally," he said, stroking her naked hip with his index finger. "I never thought we'd get here."

"Me, either," Lisbon stated, her voice soft and low. "Well, not in a mud pit, anyway."

"This will be a memory to cherish," Jane snorted. "I hope they have showers here or we will have a lot of explaining to do."

Lisbon laughed, thankful that she knew this place did indeed have showers. "It's going to take some time getting all this off in certain places."

He kissed her lips and smiled. "Don't worry, little piggy! We'll get you all cleaned up."

Lisbon stealthily picked up a little bit of clay from beside her and splashed it in Jane's face.

"Oink, Oink," she replied with a smile.


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: Mayzee here with the final chapter of this one. Apologies for the length of time since this story has been updated. My fault entirely and not my co-authors. Want to say a big thanks to them for all their hard work and encouragement to get us here. 'We make a good team sometimes!'**

 **And, of course, thanks to you on behalf of us all for reading and following this light hearted and hopefully at times humorous tale. Hope you like how we've ended it!**

* * *

Chapter 19 – The Ring

"A boat tour?" Abbott snapped, scanning Wylie's expression, his dark eyes penetrating the younger man's increasingly nervous blues. "Have you lost your mind along with the rest of my team on this trip, Wylie? This is not some company outing. We came here to do a job."

Wylie licked his lips and swallowed. "Well," he began, his voice shaking under the strict stare of his superior, "haven't we already done that? Case is closed, isn't it?" He chanced a smile, only wishing he had Jane's confidence to match it. "And we don't leave until this evening. I thought it could help with...team building. You know, the team being new and everything...might help us all settle in. Especially Jane, make him more comfortable joining the FBI."

Abbott sighed heavily. It didn't take a rocket scientist to deduce that quite a bit of _team building_ between his two pairs of agents had already been going on. And that Jane was more than comfortable now he and Lisbon had been reunited again. He'd also guessed they had finally decided to turn their relationship romantic so was more than convinced there was no risk of Jane running off again while she remained with the FBI. At least that was something to be grateful for after the shenanigans the past few days.

He could imagine his wife's words if she were here right now. _Ease up, Dennis. Have some fun for a change. Sometimes you get further with the carrot than the stick._

Certainly beating Jane with the stick had done him no favours. And although the blond haired pain in the ass consultant would see the carrot a mile off perhaps it might harness some trust between them and get better results by allowing the brilliant but conniving man some latitude. On occasions. And maybe with Lisbon at his side she could curtail some of his more elaborate ideas. He chuckled at that rather hopeful possibility, earning him a surprised look from the young blond man in front of him who appeared too terrified to say more than he already had and was still waiting for an answer.

Finally, Abbott slapped Wylie on the shoulder and smiled. "What the hell, it's been a crazy case, might as well end it that way. Count me in, Wylie."

* * *

"Well, that was different," Lisbon beamed as she and Jane walked out of the spa, freshly showered. It had taken them thirty minutes to remove the mud from their bodies. As they'd found a shower cubicle that could accommodate them both another very enjoyable twenty minutes had been spent after that. Jane's opinion was that they should make sure every square inch of them was clean and he'd proceeded to inspect Lisbon's body meticulously as the warm shower spray cascaded over them. That, of course, had led to another lovemaking session against the cool tiled wall where they were pleased to find that the soap dish there was more securely fitted than the one in their hotel room bathroom.

"What do you mean? I know it's been a while for me but I'm pretty sure I did everything right," he laughed, his hand at the small of her back as he steered her towards the elevators.

She kissed him quickly as they stepped inside. "Looking for compliments, huh?" she grinned. "I was talking about the mud."

"Oh, that. I think it's done wonders for your complexion, Lisbon." He bent down and whispered in her ear as another guest came to stand beside them, "You are positively glowing, my dear."

* * *

When they entered their room their eyes lit up when they saw the camera had been removed. Jane immediately took Lisbon into his arms and kissed her passionately. She reciprocated fiercely and he began to pull the blouse from her jeans. "Seriously? Again?" she laughed but immediately began to unbutton his vest nevertheless.

Trailing kisses down her neck he said, "I have a lot of time to make up for."

She brought his lips back to hers. " _We_ have a lot of time to make up for," she smiled.

"Then why are we wasting time talking?" he chuckled as he began to guide her towards the bed.

"Good point," she said, grabbing his belt buckle and pulling him to it faster.

As they were about to collapse onto it a knock sounded at their door, stilling their movements.

"I swear if there's been another murder I'm jumping into those damn Falls," Jane huffed as he went to answer the door while Lisbon smoothed down her hair and fixed her clothing.

"Hey!" Wylie chirped when Jane opened it. "Where have you guys been?" Then he took a longer look at Jane's dishevelled curls and open vest along with Lisbon's flushed face. "Uh...doesn't matter," he said, blushing as he answered his own question. He got the feeling wherever they had been had kick-started something much more than a few kisses between them. Plus when he added in the lack of a camera in the room now it meant...

"What can we do for you, Jason?" Jane asked, interrupting Wylie's thoughts, his tone pleasant but slightly impatient.

"Uh...three things," the younger man replied quickly. "First is we got proof Thomas is the serial killer. Cho and Fischer found IDs of the victims in his room. And they discovered the link to daisies. When they talked to his ex she confirmed he always used to make her daisy chains when they were together. Kept sending them to her even when they broke up."

"Well, that's normal behaviour," Lisbon deadpanned with an eye roll.

"Second thing is," Wylie's smile lit up the room, "we're all going on a boat trip to see the Falls before we get the plane back to Austin later."

Jane tried to suppress a smile when he saw Lisbon's horrified expression. "A-A boat?" she stammered. She had thought she had thankfully escaped that particular sightseeing adventure.

"Yeah!" Wylie exclaimed, ignorant to her reticence, "should be good, huh? We're all going, even Abbott. Team building exercise." He added proudly, "My idea."

Lisbon knew there was no way out of it now. She couldn't cry off an activity that had something to do with her job. Especially when she'd just acquired it. And Jane's expression where he was unable to hide a hint of amusement told her he knew that too.

"Good idea, Jason. We can't wait," Jane grinned.

Lisbon half hoped she'd throw up on him for that comment. "The third thing?" she asked to get her mind off the second thing.

Wylie glanced at her left hand ring finger. Now it was Jane's turn for his face to fall, followed swiftly by Lisbon's.

"Since the case is closed..." Wylie began, "I have to er..."

"Of course," Lisbon nodded, composing herself quickly. She took a final look at the beautiful ring and briefly nibbled her bottom lip before she yanked it off her finger in a swift fluid motion and handed it to Wylie.

Wylie palmed the ring and handed her a receipt to sign which she did without looking at Jane for fear her emotions would get the better of her. She knew it was just a ring and inconsequential compared to what she and Jane had found with each other but wearing it the past few days had given her a glimpse of what being Patrick Jane's wife might be like. And, rather than being terrified of getting close to a man like she normally was when things started to get serious, she had began to feel comfortable and cherished instead. Maybe she'd become so engrossed in the role she'd been playing that by taking it off it almost felt to her as if they were breaking up for real, as ridiculous as that sounded. Nevertheless a wave of melancholy suddenly washed over her that she hoped she could shake off.

"That it?" Lisbon asked Wylie, handing him back the piece of paper.

"Yeah, thanks." As he headed to the door he said to both of them, "We're meeting in reception in half an hour. Abbott says to make sure you check out first."

Jane closed the door after him and glanced in her direction. She barely looked at him but shrugged and pulled her suitcase onto the bed to begin packing, all thoughts of sex gone from her mind. He came up behind her and kissed her neck. "This isn't stopping just because you had to take the ring off," he said softly, pecking her cheek. "It'll take more than a ring to break this up, Teresa."

"Yeah, I know," she nodded, attempting a smile and patting his left hand as it circled her waist. The cold metal she felt made her take a step away as his words rang in her ears.

"Everything okay?" he frowned, noticing the tenseness in her demeanour.

"Yeah, of course," she smiled, pecking his lips. "Just hate packing, that's all."

He narrowed his eyes as she walked into the bathroom and glanced at his left hand. "Hmm. Of course that's all," he muttered under his breath.

* * *

"Well that was an experience," Jane said to Lisbon as they walked off the boat, droplets of spray from the Falls cold on their rosy cheeks. Lisbon was quickly out of her waterproof jacket as soon as they were on dry land. Thankfully it had done its job on this occasion and kept her dry. He chuckled at her side as he removed his own jacket. "Cho is worse than you with boats. It was hardly the high seas." He paused for a moment then began laughing again. "I doubt Abbott will get that vomit out of his suit."

"His seasickness doesn't appear to have put a dampener in the romance department for them," Lisbon replied as she saw Cho and Fischer disembark, his arm around her shoulders and hers around his waist, his complexion noticeably changing from green to olive as he stepped onto solid ground.

"Don't speak to me again until we get back to Austin," he told Jane as they passed them, having already put up with a litany of jokes and sea related puns from him whilst onboard.

Jane put his hands up and feigned innocence. " _I_ didn't book the trip!" he called after them with a grin. "I was just trying to get your mind off the waves! I offered to hypnotise you to help, didn't I?"

Cho muttered, "Never in a million years," and what sounded like a few Korean swear words along with something about Wylie needing to watch his back in future. Fischer walked by his side, rubbing his back as their images drifted into the distance.

"Let's get out of here before Abbott disembarks," Lisbon said to Jane, realising he was waiting to mock his superior. She took his hand, drawing him away from the boat.

"What about Wylie? Shouldn't we wait for him?"

"Nope," she smiled, glancing over his shoulder. The young man was talking to a girl his age and by his eager expression and her beaming smile back at him he appeared to have found a love interest of his own. Jane turned around quickly and grinned. "Well, what do you know? There must be something in the water here."

"Yeah," Lisbon nodded before she frowned slightly. Then she took off without him back towards the hotel. He quickened his pace to catch up with her. "What's the hurry? We don't leave for another hour, Lisbon."

"Yeah, just...just looking forward to getting back to Austin. Been quite a trip."

He took his hand in hers and brought it to his lips. "I'd say it was a pretty worthwhile one."

She stopped and turned to look at him. Her eyes penetrating his she asked clearly, "Would you?"

His brow creased and he chuckled. "Of course, wouldn't you?"

"How do we know this isn't some kind of holiday romance?" she asked him. "Like you said, maybe there's something in the water here. Maybe when we get back to Austin we'll discover-"

He rolled his eyes and interrupted her. "Are you serious, woman?" He took her in his arms and kissed her. "Stop trying to sabotage this. Frankly, I won't have it anymore. Not after all this time. This is real. _We_ are real." He kissed her soundly again and took her hand. "Come with me," he said softly.

* * *

Soon they were in the grounds of the hotel as Jane led her to a bench under a cherry blossom tree that overlooked the Falls, the sweet fragrance of the blooms pervading the air. "This'll do," he said quietly as they took a seat together.

"I'm sorry," Lisbon said as soon as she sat down, her fingers around her cross. "I know this is real-"

"But it's scary too," Jane finished for her. "I get that. Believe me, I get that," he said gently as he took her left hand from her cross and held it in his right hand instead.

He rubbed his index finger over the spot where her ring had been. "You seemed to be coping better until you removed your ring." His tone was gentle, coaxing.

She blushed and shrugged, realising there was no point in trying to lie to him. "I know it makes no sense but...but...it being there...even though I knew it was just for this case...although I knew it wasn't a real one...and that I know it's much too soon to even think about that for us...but it made me feel like what he had-"

"Was more real than it feels now," he finished for her, lowering his head to look in her eyes that were downcast.

"I know it's only a stupid damn ring. I'll be fine. Really." She nodded and looked him straight in the eye and took a breath.

"Hmm," he frowned. "I'm not convinced."

"Jane-"

His eyes pierced hers. "I don't want you to ever doubt this, Teresa. I never want you to doubt this again. To doubt how much I love you. How much I'm _in_ love with you."

She swallowed as tears threatened, her voice lost as he continued. "I'm in a pickle, though-"

She shook her head furiously. "No, you're not. I told you, I'm sure I'll be fine once we get back to Austin, back to a semblance of normality. We'll see how this goes between us when we get back. No expectations, no pressure. We'll just...go with the flow, do what feels right for us."

He nodded slowly then made a discontented sound. "Do what feels right, huh?" he repeated morosely.

She smiled, "Yes. We'll take things slow, see where this goes."

He placed his right hand in his vest pocket and pulled out the ring she'd given back to Wylie earlier. Her eyes widened immediately upon seeing it as a hint of a smile played on Jane's lips. He held it in his fingers and said, "See, this is my dilemma. What I want to do is to put this ring back on your finger. Right back where it belongs from the first second I put it there. For me, that would feel right. But you've just said that it's too soon for that." He stared into her eyes. "So, you see the pickle I'm in?"

She gazed at the ring, open mouthed. Finally, "Tell me you didn't steal that from Wylie."

He grinned, "You think that little of me I'd try to propose with a knocked off ring?"

The next word stuck in her throat as her voice turned high pitched, "Pro-Propose?"

He laughed softly. "What did you think I was trying to do, Teresa? To put your fears at rest I've paid the FBI for this ring. I even cleared it with Abbott before we got on the boat. And, surprisingly, he seemed genuinely happy for us. If you agree, that is. I think he hopes you'll be a calming influence on me. He's an optimist," he chuckled.

"When you said you were going down to the pharmacy to get me some Dramamine," she said slowly, putting the pieces together of when he had time to get the ring back without her knowledge.

"Yes. So it's mine. Well...I hope that it'll be yours. Again. For real this time. And for good."

He waited as she blinked, her eyes fixed on the ring again.

"Should I ask you?" he said after a few moments. "Or should I put it back in my pocket and hypnotise you to forget we ever had this conversation for the time being to save my embarrassment?"

She laughed softly at the mention of hypnosis before she looked up at him. "You don't think it's too soon? We've only just started this, Jane. I don't want you to feel that my insecurity about a ring I've only worn for a few days has made you do this."

"Too soon? We started this over a decade ago, Teresa. I don't see why we should waste another second." He arched an eyebrow. "And since when do I do anything I don't want to do?"

He paused, took a breath, growing more nervous with every second. "Unless you're really not ready. I understand why you might not be. I-I haven't done this in a very long time, been with someone-"

"Ask me," she said suddenly, a smile creeping up on her lips.

He grinned and let go of a breath he didn't realise he was holding. His voice breaking as the words slipped out he said, "Teresa Lisbon, I told you once you had no idea what you meant to me. Hopefully, by now, I've left you in doubt just what you mean to me. That you know I love you with every fibre of my being. For...for longer than I probably even know myself. So I want you to be my wife. Will you marry me?"

She nodded mutely for a few seconds as she blinked tears away. "Yes. Yes, of course I'll marry you!"

He slipped the ring on her finger quickly and followed it with a long kiss as they embraced. After a moment to get their breaths back she added, "Wow, this has been quite a life changing trip." Then she laughed as she wiped tears away.

"That it has," he agreed, wiping a few of his own.

After a deep breath she smiled, "We better get back to the others," and made to get off the bench.

"Not yet," he said, pulling her back down to sit beside him. "One more thing, first. Something I probably should have done before I proposed that might have made you more amenable to the idea a little sooner. But...well I've never particularly done things the easy or traditional way."

She frowned as her eyes questioned him.

He looked at his wedding band and ran his fingers over it as he smiled. She placed hers on top of them immediately. "Jane, are you sure-"

"Quite sure," he smiled, gently pushing her fingers aside. "You know...you know I took this off once before."

"You did?" she asked incredulously. "When?"

He shrugged, "Not long ago. Before I came back to the US."

"What happened?"

He thought over what to tell her and briefly thought about concealing the absolute truth. But she was going to be his wife and he owed her total honesty from this point on. He licked his lips nervously. "When Fischer came to the island. Before we went to dinner."

Lisbon's mouth parted slightly and she nodded, swallowing slightly. He could see her try to hide the hurt that sentence had inflicted.

"I didn't take it off for her, Teresa."

"But you took it off before you went on a date with her."

"Yes, it was a date. But nothing ever happened with her, you need to know that."

"But part of you must have wanted it to or you'd never have taken your ring off."

He sighed and shrugged slightly. "I thought about it, yes. About...about something romantic happening between us. But...it never materialised. It just couldn't. She just reminded me...well the more time I spent with her the more I knew she was a placeholder for what I really wanted. _Who_ I really wanted. She made me realise just how much I missed _you_ , Teresa."

She was struck almost speechless by his heartfelt words but she just got out, "But your ring?"

"It's what you do, I thought. When you take a woman out to dinner she doesn't want to see the ring of your late wife on your finger, does she? Kind of a mood killer, right?"

"I guess."

"Plus I wanted to see how it felt. To be without it for an evening. To act like...well act like a normal human being without a truck load of baggage."

"And how'd it feel?"

"I put it back on the next day," he shrugged.

"So you obviously weren't ready, then. So how do you know now it's going to be any different now?"

"I thought that at the time too, that I wasn't ready. I'd always imagined when I removed it I would suddenly feel ready to move with my life or know it was the wrong thing to do, that I'd have some grand epiphany either way. But the truth is I didn't, no epiphany materialised, nothing changed. I felt the same with it as without it. So I figured I might as well put it back on again if that was the case. Then it hit me this afternoon. I'm ashamed how long it's taken me to realise the significance of something – that I felt the same with it as without it. I had simply got used to wearing it as the years passed. So...so that means it doesn't matter if I wear it or not anymore. That tells me I'm more than ready to move on. So...out of respect for our relationship I take it off. Simple as that, really."

Before she could respond he pulled the gold band off and held it between two of his fingers. "I've worn this ring a long time but it's time for a new one to take its place." He grinned, "Hopefully soon. I don't much fancy a long engagement."

She kissed him quickly. "You know if it hadn't been for that ring we'd never have met," she said softly.

"I know. I've been thinking about that today."

She started to speak then stopped herself.

"What is it?" he asked.

She touched her cross. "You know I wear this because of my mother?"

He nodded, "Of course. Makes you feel close to her still."

"It does. Well...I know...I know it's not the same thing as your marriage to Angela...not at all but...well my mother was the first person in my life ever to show me unconditional love-"

"Doesn't sound that dissimilar to my situation when you put it like that," he suggested.

She smiled and nodded. "Well...if you like...I mean if you wanted me to...-"

"You'd wear my ring with your cross?" he asked, catching up with her train of thought, blinking in amazement.

"I'd be honoured. But only if it was something you wanted."

A tear escaped his eye and he choked up. "I would...I would love it if you would do that." He laughed softly. "To be honest part of the reason why I haven't taken it again was that I wasn't entirely sure what to do with it when I did. It didn't seem right to put it in a box or something. To me it seemed like I was trying to hide my past if I did that. And, like you said, if it weren't for my past we'd never have met."

She kissed him softly. "Then we're agreed."

"You're sure about this?" he confirmed.

As a response she quickly unfastened her necklace. Jane kissed her quickly before he threaded his ring through the chain reverently. Then she turned her head and lifted her hair out of the way as he refastened the clip before kissing the nape of her neck.

"How does it look?" she smiled, turning back around.

"Just like our future. Absolutely perfect."

\- THE END -


End file.
